Wish
by Secrets Of A Monster
Summary: Pushed into the middle of a world he never knew existed, he learns that the world isn't all that he thought it was. Not all people are hateful, not all people are worthless, and not all people are human. With the help of friends and enemies alike, he becomes what he was destined for and unlocks all that he had kept hidden throughout his life.
1. Our Story

**Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.  
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******This story will be a mixture of the books and movies, bits and pieces taken from both so I can work the storyline how I want it to. Some things are made up, and some things are changed to fit in as well.**

**In this particular story, while Renesmee will be born, Jacob is not the one who will imprint on her, as his role is already determined. I also feel for Leah, considering all that has happened to her, so she will have a mate by the end of this as well.  
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**This story is being posted as is. As stated in my profile, all stories posted are not changed/reviewed/beta'd or anything else. Raw, unedited, text, meaning there will likely be typos, grammatical errors, and the like.  
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**Read, enjoy. There will be no author's notes after this.  
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**Updates will be random.****  
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**Wish**

**Our Story**

I didn't smile anymore. I didn't laugh. I barely showed any form of emotion, to be honest. My face was almost always blank, my eyes dull, attention drifting. It was how I dealt, how I got through the day, how I survived. I was, for all intents and purposes, a shell. The emotions, the feelings, the thoughts, were all still there, but they were locked away in a little box in the back of my mind. The key had long since been hidden, even from me, and there was wall after wall after wall built up around the pathetic little box, making sure that no one would ever be able to get to it, making sure that no one would ever be able to make me feel again... making sure that no one would be able to hurt me ever again. Of course, this had it's downsides, but they didn't matter. I was safe, safe from everyone, safe from the world.

Saying I was your typical teenager would be a lie. I was far from everything normal, typical. I always had been, and people made it a point to frequently remind me just how strange and abnormal I was. My family, aside from my little sister and mother, wanted very little, if nothing, to do with me, they hadn't since I was born. My father? My older brother? I didn't exist to them, and though we all lived together, they ignored me to the point where it was like I was never born. There were no photos where we were all together, just them, all of them, or of myself with mom and Vitani. This had bothered me when I was younger, but I'd grown used to it, not like I had a choice.

School wise, friends, peers, they ignored me as well, or did as well as they could. School does tend to force you to interact with one another, even if on a minimal basis. When I wasn't ignored though, I was picked on, beat up, ridiculed. I never understood why they all thought I was a freak, I still don't. I looked normal enough; short, choppy blcak hair, freckles, short stature – 5'4'' – and scrawny, as they typically described me. The only thing that actually stood out were my eyes, but Vitani had the same eyes as me, and everyone loved her.

No one would ever tell me anything either, so I was left in a pit of confusion. All of this, the hatred, ridicule, the being ignored, is what created the barrier in my mind. What made me block everyone and everything out. After all, if I didn't feel, then they couldn't hurt me. If I didn't feel, it wouldn't bother me that no one cared. If I didn't feel... I could go on with my life.

So I made it so.

Vitani was all but oblivious to this, and made it a point to do whatever she could to see me smile. I loved her so much, and for her, I would do anything... I did my best to smile, to... be happy, for her, but I couldn't, not completely. If I had to proportion it, my reactions to her were about 4% real, which was... really sad.

But still she tried. She never gave up hope. And when I'd look down into her eyes, her golden, shining eyes, I felt just a small spark of hope for myself. She made me think that one day, things would be better, even if juts for a moment.

My mother... she knew, she could see it, but she chose to ignore it. It was easier for her to deal with it, that way. She had enough to worry about with Johnathan -my dad- and Nuka – my brother - , being how they were, always causing in some sort of trouble, causing some sort of uproar, whether it be here, at home, or at school or work.

I was okay with that.

I had no reason to not be.

After all, by ignoring my... problems, she treated me like I was normal. She'd smile at me and talk to me, and even hug me, though the latter wasn't very often. I think it bothered her to hug me, which again, was alright. I was very cold, after all. My skin was anyway. Vampire jokes, of course, had been made because of that.

If it weren't for what we were, I'd have probably believed I was one. Though, I was glad I wasn't. Having a craving for meat all the time was bad enough. I don't think I could handle having a craving, an addiction, to just blood, especially human blood.

Anyway, I've been rambling. My name, is, Kovu Pride, and yes, you may laugh, as our parents did name us after the outlander's from The Lion King, and this... this is the story of how my walls were torn down and I became one with my destiny.


	2. An Escape?

**An Escape?**

We moved around a lot throughout the years, having never stayed in one house, one city, for more than a year or two, sometimes not even for a month. No explanation was ever given as to why we moved, and we had learned to just accept Johnathan's word, and would pack up and be gone in twenty-four hours, or less.

Where we were now though, was a place unlike any other we had been before. The town was small, very small, and everything, from what I could see, was within walking distance of where the house was. We had even passed a beach on the way, which I would make a point to escape to as often as possible.

"Kovu, would you mind taking Vita out for a little while? I have to have a talk with your fa- with Johnathan and would prefer neither of you be around for it." The desperate look on my mother's face was enough to stop me from protesting, so I simply nodded and made my way over to the already excited, smiling eight year old.

"Where are we gonna go? Huh? Huh?" She was practically bouncing up and down in excitement as she trailed behind me.

"We passed a beach on the drive over.. it isn't too far away."

That was all I had to say, and she was beaming. "The beach! Yay! I love the beach! Can we play in the sand? Oh, I know! I'm gonna look for seashells to put in my room! Maybe I'll find a pet crab or a jellyfish! We might see a shark too-" I simply shook my head, offering her a half smile as we walked along. I would imagine it would take about twenty-thirty minutes to get there, and she would be talking about it the entire way.

I envied her.

She was so bright, cheery, adorable. Nothing ever bothered her. She was so strong, even at her age. It amazed me.

"Can we play in the water too? Can we?"

"Maybe... we'll have to see once we get there. After all, I don't think Johnathan would appreciate me returning you soaked to the bone."

She gave me a pout, staring up at me with big, puppy dog eyes, "Pu-leaaaaaaaaaase, Ko? Pleaaaaaaase?"

"Like I said, we'll see."

She huffed, picking up her pace so that she was walking in front of me, which meant that she was ignoring me. It wouldn't last long though.

I wondered though, what is it that mom and Johnathan had to talk about... and why did we need to stay away? And why not Nuka? Maybe it was something about us. I wouldn't doubt that it was. I really hoped that they wouldn't be fighting when we returned. Vita didn't need to see, or hear, that. She may not be a little kid anymore, but she was still a child, and did not deserve to have her innocence ripped away by some bullshit family violence.

"I see it! Kovu~! I see it!"

So she did. It must have been closer than I thought. With one last glance as me, she squealed and took off running down to the sand, me following behind at a much slower pace.

The sky was cloudy, but it didn't look like it was going to rain. No, the clouds simply made it a tad cooler, which meant the water would be cold as well, "Stay out of the water, Vitani."

"But it's not that cold!"

"It's cold enough and you don't need to get sick. Besides, I thought you said you were going to hunt for seashells?"

"Oh, yeah! I did!"

Then she ran off. I sat far away from the water, closer to the road, and just watched her. I didn't know how long we would have to sat there before wandering back home, though I can't say I cared. Spending my afternoon at the beach? Pretty good idea of a decent afternoon, even if it was stupidly cold and I had to wear a jacket and scarf.

Vita though, was in shorts and a teeshirt, not at all effected by the temperature. My head tilted as she jumped up, surprised, and ran away from the spot she was digging, huffing angrily about a stupid crab. It was then that said crab emerged from it's spot under the sand and stood tall, snapping it's pincers, just as angry as Vita was. She stared it down, and I heard a growl come from her, but it turned to a squeal quickly, as the crab charged at her. She turned and ran and the crab, which I must add was quite small, continued to run after her, chasing her about.

Shaking my head, I took my attention off of her to look around the area. The beach was very large, long, from what I could see, and we were close to the right end of it. It probably went over for a mile or two, though I couldn't be certain from where I was. In the distance, well, not that far in the distance, I noticed something moving, two somethings.

Two people were making their way across the beach, heading in our direction. Of course, Vitani noticed them as well, "Look, people! C'mon, Ko, I wanna go say hi!" I didn't have time to register what she said before she took off running towards them, giggling happily

"Vitani!" Damnit to hell! I stood and ran after her as fast as I could go, and slowly, but surely, I was catching up to her. "Vitani Pride, I swear if you don't get your ass back here right now, I-" My train of thought was lost and my sentence cut short as I made full on contact with the sand.

The sound of her giggling reached my ears, "You're so clumsy, Ko!" Grumbling, I pushed myself back up, wiping the sand off my clothes and shaking it out of my hair.

"Uhm.. hey.. are you alright?" A female voice, unknown, caused me to freeze, just momentarily, before standing up completely, eying the strangers cautiously.

"Oh, he's fine. He's fallen on lotsa harder surfaces before. Like the porch and the kitchen floor and in the parking lot a-"

"Vita, I think they get the point." She smiled wide at me and turned around, facing the strange pair, a male and female, around my age.

"Hi there! My name's Vitani and this is my big brother Kovu! What're your names?"

I sighed as I watched her, knowing I couldn't stop her, and paid close attention to the two. The female looked a tad uncomfortable, and cold, being bundled up like I was, though the male was grinning, and he knelt down in front of Vita, "I'm Jacob and this is my friend Bella. It's nice to meet you, Vitani, and your names are very..." he paused, seeming to be thinking of the proper word to describe our obviously abnormal names, "unique."

I had to give him props for that, as he chose something that wasn't offensive that I'm sure Vita wo- "Yep! They sure are! Mommy said she wanted to give us super special names since we're a super special family. We have a big brother too, his name is Nuka, but he's a big stinker. Not any fun at all.

"Vitani.. Kovu.. Nuka.. like.. from The Lion King?" The female – Bella, I had to remind myself – looked over to me, eyes filled with curiosity.

"Yes. She thought the names were fitting, both in meaning and purpose." I left it at that, my tone stating I did not wish to talk about it any longer. "I apologize if Vita interrupted you, or is bothering you. She's... easily excited." Was the best way to put it, and she beamed at the fact.

"Oh, no, it's fine." Jacob stood back up, "She's cute."

"You hear that, Ko? Jaaaaaacob thinks I'm cute~" As opposed to annoying, as I tended to call her, all in good fun though, and she knew that. "Jacob! Jacob! You look strong. You're strong, right?" Slightly confused by what she was getting at, he simply nodded, the grin never leaving his face, "Can you put me on your shoulders? I wanna look and see if I can spot anything cool out in the water. I'd ask Ko, but he can't do that anymore cause it hurts his back."

Letting out a laugh, Jacob nodded again, "Sure, kiddo." He knelt down and, glancing at me, asked, "Can you help her up?" I was hesitant, of course. We didn't know these people, I didn't know these people, yet Vitani was acting like they were her best friends. But, I gave in, Vita's puppy eyes once again winning me over. With a sigh, I lifted her up, setting her on Jacob's shoulders. He grasped her legs and she held onto him as he stood. "Where too?"

"Oh, uhm, there!" She pointed a few feet away, at the edge of the water, "And watch out for crabs, the one's around here are really mean!" He simply laughed, walking her over to where she had pointed out.

So I was standing with Bella. She stepped closer to me and we both turned to watch Vitani and Jacob. "You and your sister.." I turned my head slightly to glance at her, noting a tad unhappily that she was the same height as me, "You have very.. pretty eyes." I bit back any noise that would attempt to escape me, just staring at her. No one, and I mean no one, had ever said our eyes were... pretty. Weird, freaky, odd, even creepy and scary, but pretty? "I've never seen eyes like yours."

"Uhm.. thanks... we're.. very special, I guess.." I worded it that way simply because it's how Vita described us. I had no idea why our eyes were so different, but going with 'we're special', seemed like the best way to pass it off. "So.. how long have you lived in Forks..?" Normally, I wouldn't make an effort to have a conversation, or be friendly, but seeing as Vita had already dubbed them her pals, I had the feeling I would be seeing more of them than I wished to, meaning we should at least be on good terms, especially if I wound up in school with the two.

"Just moved here recently.. January. You?"

"We arrived a few hours ago.. I'm babysitting while they unpack." A lie, made up off the top of my head, but it held some truth. It's not like she needed to know why I was here.

"Sorry if I'm.. getting too personal with this one but.. are.. you alright?" I raised an eyebrow, "You seem very... distant? I don't want to say unhappy or something.. but you just don't look... well."

"I don't typically feel, Bella. It's complicated, it's.. very personal. I'm pretty apathetic most of the time. It's nothing to be concerned with. It's just how I am."

"Ko, look! I see something!" Shifting my gaze from Bella, I looked out to the waters, where Vita was pointing excitedly. She saw something alright, but it wasn't **in** the water. The clouds were moving and I could tell immediately that there was a storm on the way. "It's gonna rain, Ko! We get to play in the rain!" Sighing, yet again, I shook my head, "Can I be put down now, Jacob?" Setting her down, Jacob walked back over to us as Vita took off running back in the direction we had originally come from, likely to see if she could find that crab again.

"She really is something." I nodded, agreeing as I watched her. "You seem the exact opposite of her though; are you sure you're related?" There was laughter in his voice, but I simply shrugged.

"If it weren't for our eyes, I'd be questioning that myself."

Taking a glance at my cell phone, noting it was about three, I slid it back into my pocket, taking in a deep breath as I shivered. I'd have to take her home soon before I really started to feel the cold. The last thing I needed was to pass out on the beach.

"What is she doing?" That was Bella, seeing Vita drop to her knees, digging at the sand in a manner similar to a puppy

"Either looking for something or pretending she's a dog." Jacob, being oddly in tuned with my exact thought, caused me to let out a short laugh. "Both maybe." I nodded to him, indicating he was very likely correct.

A breeze picked up, nothing big, but enough to make me shiver again, and let out a small curse under my breath at my sensitivity.

A few minutes passed in silence, though not an awkward one as I would have expected. We all just stood there, watching Vitani play, well, dig. She stood up though, grinning almost evilly while holding a crab in her hand. In one swift movement, she threw it as hard as she could towards the water. The crab actually got some distance too, which was a tad surprising. She had a really good arm.

"You should sign her up for baseball or something.. she'd be a great pitcher." Not a bad idea. It'd keep her out of trouble too. I'd have to bring that up to mom when we got home.

Seemingly finished with her task, she walked back over to us, wrapping her arms around my waist, "Revenge?" I asked simply, and she nodded, not saying a word. "She was chased around by a crab before she spotted you." I continued, clearing up the obvious confusion. "Anyway... we're heading out; it's a good walk for us to get home..." Vita groaned unhappily, "I'm sure... we'll see you guys around.."

With a little pout, Vita let go of me and bounced to Jacob, giving him a hug as tight as she could, "Thanks a bunch, Jacob! You make a great tower!"

"No problem, Princess. I'm more than welcome to help anytime." That would be something she would forever hold onto. Princess. Now she had a new, permanent nickname. Fun, fun.

She then turned to Bella and hugged her just the same, "You're really pretty. I hope you and Ko become friends so I can hang out with you bunches!"

Her cheeks tinted red and she awkwardly returned the hug Vita was giving her, "Thanks.. and I hope so too.." Poor Bella had no idea how to react. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch, but bit it back, a task made easier as another hard shiver hit me. Vitani released her and hopped back next to me.

"It was.. nice to meet you both."

Of course, I was just as awkward as Bella, not being used to people being... friendly. She held her hand out to me, and I took it in my own, immediately feeling the difference in our body temperature. She was warm, normal. Giving her hand a shake, I offered my own to Jacob, who took it and the gesture was repeated. He was warm, more so than Bella, and for a brief moment, I felt just a small pang of jealousy.

That was... unpleasant. And unexpected.

"We need to be heading back anyway, I'm sure everyone is wondering where we are." A quick nod from me and I looked out to the water once more, "We'll see you guys later." And we all left, Vita and I walking back towards where our home was, and Bella and Jacob heading off in the direction they had came from.

As we walked, me following behind Vita again, my hand drifted to my chest, over my heart. I don't understand how or why that had happened, how it was even possible. I had made sure that I'd never feel anything like that again... but it still slipped through.

Not even a full day in this town and my defenses were already slipping.

There is no way that could be a good sign.


	3. High School

**High School**

Sunday was... boring. There was nothing around the house to do, and mom had taken Vitani to town with her to do some grocery shopping. So I, of course, spent the entire day sleeping. Well, most of the day. I woke up and ate breakfast as they were leaving, **then** went back in my room and slept. A very nice day for me, if I do say so myself. It allowed me to get some much needed rest, especially seeing as I had school on Monday, today.

I woke up two hours early, much to my dismay, and was unable to go back to sleep. I guess it did give me a chance to eat, shower, and whatnot, but that wouldn't take more than half an hour.. leaving me with far too much time to spare.

With a sigh – I do that a lot, don't I? - I rolled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen, surprised to see my mom already awake and sipping at a cup of coffee. Actually, she didn't look like she'd slept at all. "Mom?"

My voice caused her to jump, but she looked relieved to see it was just me. "Oh, Kovu... Good morning. What has you up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Didn't sleep." If there was one thing I loved about mom was that she never, ever lied to me, or beat around the bush. She told everything like it was, a trait Vitani had definitely inherited from her. "John and I are... well, things are happening and they aren't bad but... he doesn't approve, so it's causing me far too much stress. And the only reason I'm not telling you now is because you have school today and you really don't need to be worrying about anything other than that."

I nodded, snagging a small bottle of OJ from the fridge, "Fair enough."

"Also, you'll be taking my bike to school. Nuka's taking the car, and we both know he won't let you ride with him." She was right, but I didn't mind. I liked her bike. And by bike, I do mean bicycle, not motorcycle. It was pink too. I can picture the blow to my pitiful excuse for masculinity and the inevitable questioning of my sexuality already.

"I'll probably head off after I shower, get there early, scope it out and whatfor."

"Sounds like a plan." As I turned to head to the bathroom, her voice caused me to pause, "And Kovu... just... be **careful**, alright?" Her tone, her warning in general, told me something was definitely going on, which likely involved their talk from the other night. I knew she wouldn't tell me -she made that clear – but I would be lying if I said it didn't make me curious, if not just a little worried.

Something was going to happen. Something big. Something involving me, and more than likely, Vitani.

Taking in a long, deep breath, I sighed heavily and just walked away, intent in taking a very very hot shower.

Which wound up lasting almost an **hour**, thanks to my getting lost in thought. The water had long since went cold, and was starting to sting as I turned it off, stepping out and wrapping a towel around myself, yes, my torso included -I had scars I didn't want someone to see should they pass me in the hall, and hurriedly made my way back into my room, shutting and locking the door.

The school, as far as I had been told, didn't have a uniform policy, meaning I was free to dress however I wanted. So a pair of simple, faded jeans, a thick, long sleeved blue undershirt, and a thinner, black, short sleeved shirt over that, followed by a jacket -black with white wings painted on the back – and my green and gray scarf. I was mismatched to hell, especially counting my red converse, but I didn't care. It was comfortable, and warm, very warm, which is exactly what I needed.

Mom wasn't in the kitchen when I passed by – she must have went in her room – so I shrugged and continued outside, spotting her bright pink bike resting against the side of the porch.

Patting my back pockets to ensure I hadn't forgotten my wallet or phone, I hopped onto my ride and off to school I went.

Ten minutes. That's how long it took on that bike to get to school. I had imagined it would be a bit farther than that, but I wasn't going to complain. The exercise was nice, yes, but I'd prefer to not wear my legs out every morning before school, where I'd be walking around for a good portion of the day to get to and from classes, and to participate in gym..

The bike was chained to the, conveniently placed, bike rack near the main entrance, and I briefly glanced about, noticing that very few people had arrived. Well... it was half an our before classes started, so that was to be expected.

As I entered the office, having taken my time getting there as to observe the overall look and feel of the place, the secretary looked over at me, seemingly bored. "I need my list of classes.. and paperwork." She just stared at me expectantly, "Kovu Pride." My name caused her to give me a very strange look, but she did as I requested, and in but a few moments, presented me with a small stack of papers. "Good day."

My first class was Calculus, followed by Economics.. then Art -wait, what-? I did not sign up for Ar- That would have been my mother, sneaking something in that she thinks I'll be good at. Nothing I could do about it, I suppose. With a frown, I looked over the rest of my classes; gym, which would be anything but fun, followed by a lunch break, then Biology and to end the day; English. Not a bad put-together, really, but Art and Gym? Not something I would be looking forward to, at all.

I was in class before even the teacher arrived, allowing me to sit in the very front, next to the window, which would, if I could help it, be my seat for the remainder of the year. I always made an attempt to sit up front, having learned in middle school that it makes you less likely to be picked to answer questions, and sitting by the window? I was able to gaze out and watch whatever would happen to be going on, giving me more than welcome distraction from the horror that is Calculus.

I was never good at math, English and Science being more of my game, but it was required to graduate, so I'd have to just sit through it and deal... and hopefully not fail. I would never hear the end of it if I did.

I'm going to just skip ahead to my Art class though, because Calculus and Economics? Boring, very, very boring, and there wasn't anything interesting that is worth talking about. Art though? Definitely not what I expected and I'd have to thank my mom for signing me up for it.

The teacher was insane, for lack of a better word, spouting random nonsense and drawing an incredible amount of random, and somewhat, obscene things on her large canvas. It was art, she said! Art was all about expressing yourself, discovering who you are! She eyed me as she spoke, obviously meaning all of this for me, seeing as everyone else had likely heard it at the beginning of the semester, "In this class you will not be learning to draw, you will be discovering your inner artist! You will paint your feelings, sketch your dreams!" She stepped closer to me and I stared up at her, wide-eyed, "You will color the rainbow that will lead you to your destiny."

She then skipped back to the front of the class, holding up her, oddly large, paintbrush, pointing at the class, "Today you will begin your monthly project! A painting! Any medium you so wish to use, of course, but it must be... powerful. Happy, sad, angry, I do not care! But it must tell a story!"

A story. A powerful, emotional story. Well, that was definitely going to be interesting.

"Today, you may brainstorm. That is all." She turned, her dress flowing behind her as she glided over to her desk, going about whatever business she had to attend to.

I think I was a tad scared of her, but I'd be lying if I said she wasn't interesting.

Sad to say though, by the end of class I had managed to come up with zero, yes, zero ideas. But, I did have all month, so I'm sure I'd be able to figure out something. Or, at least I hoped I would. I couldn't exactly afford to fail Art. Not only would mom be pissed, more so than if I'd fail Calculus, but I would never live it down.

Okay, so, other than that, I'm skipping passed Gym as well, because all I wound up doing was sitting on the sidelines, watching the collective classes play dodgeball. Thank you, forged medical excuses. But you can't really blame me. I wasn't a sporty, active person. I wasn't out of shape or anything, don't get me wrong; being Vita's babysitter made sure I was fit enough, but I just... wasn't particularly good at sports, and would rather not run around like an idiot, making a fool of myself every day. If they decided to do something I didn't mind, such as... running (walking) the track, sure I'd... participate, somewhat anyway.

So, Lunch. Lunch. No money, meant no food, so I just sort of... lurked around, sitting at the only empty table in the courtyard, note book out, pencil in hand. Might as well brainstorm for the next hour. Speaking of, an hour for lunch? I call blasphemy. At every other school, I had twenty minutes. They need to take advice from Forks, seriously.

"Oh, hey, Kovu." A familiar voice caused my scribbling to cease and I looked up, seeing Bella. I offered her a small smile, to be... friendly. "You can come sit with me... if you'd like. I'm sure they wouldn't mind." They, likely being her friends; my guess confirmed when she pointed to a table where a small group of people, two male, two female, were sitting and watching us, obviously curious about what their friend was doing.

I wanted to say no, I wanted to tell her I was fine, to just go away. But I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to do that. It may have been because I, somewhere deep down, desperately craved human contact, 'friends', or just because I had nothing better to do. So I wound up going over to the table with her, sitting next to her and the blonde male who looked very... nervous? Uncomfortable?

He was bothered by my presence, I knew that much. "Guys, this is Kovu. Kovu this is Jessica," the brunette female, "Mike", the uncomfortable blonde male, "Eric," the oriental looking male with pretty-boy hair, "And Angela." The second female, who also looked bothered by my being there.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.." What else could I say? I didn't suspect these people would be my friends, more so by how they all reacted to me. They were tense, nervous, unsure of what to say or do. Angela and Mike didn't even want to look at me.

"You guys need to chill. He's cool." Bella's words didn't help her friends all that much, though they all seemed to physically relax, just a little.

The rest of the hour was... awkward, and I made it a point to busy myself with doodling, sketching, in order to pass the time while Bella's friends chit-chatted, mostly amongst themselves. It surprised me to see Bella wasn't joining in on their conversations, her attention drawn to the empty table where I had been sitting.

"Missing someone?" My words surprised everyone, and they immediately grew quiet.

"She's looking for Edward. He isn't here though. When the weather gets nice, and it's sunny, Doctor and Mrs. Cullen take all of them out for family stuff. Hiking, sports, and stuff." An odd family regimen, if I've ever heard of one, but whatever worked for them. "I tried that with my mom once. No luck."

"You'd think that.. they'd rather do those things on cloudy days.. to avoid sunburn." That caused everyone to laugh, just a bit.

"Seriously. Especially considering how pale they all are." Angela looked over at me, half smiling, "They're about as pale as you are, Kovu, maybe a bit more so." Well that was something. I'd be able to recognize them instantly in that case. No one was typically paler than me.

Shoot, Bella even had more color to her than I did.

Cold? Pale? Unemotional? Goodness, maw, he is a vamp!

"Anyway, Angela and I are going to Port Angeles tomorrow after school to look for our dresses for Prom. We have to find something good before they're all gone." I couldn't stop myself from looking over all the girls, from head to toe, or whatever I could see, taking in their size, features, eyes and hair, complexion.

"Okay, we're out. We'll see you ladies in class." Mike and Eric got up and left, likely knowing what type of conversation would come next, and wanting absolutely nothing to do with it.

As they departed, I spoke, "You should go with something pink... Jessica, I mean. Something in a medium tone.. it would go well with your complexion and bring out your eyes.." The silence once again engulfed us, and they all just stared at me. I felt myself shake a little, but continued, "Angela.. something... purple, lavender almost.. a softer color.. And Bella.."

"Oh, uhm, I'm not going to Prom.."

"We've been trying to convince her to, but, it's hopeless."

Shaking my head, I shrugged, "Still... just in case you.. change your mind or something?" A half smile adorned my face and she sighed, giving in, "Blue.. a darker color, but not navy.. it matches your personality, cool, collected.. and would go very well with your overall look.."

They stayed quiet for a few more moments before Jessica grinned, "Okay, you, definitely, have to come with us tomorrow! With your help, we will so have the perfect dress."

"Can I.. tag along?"

"Of course! We'll need your opinion too!"

Bella gave a sort of half-smile, and I could tell immediately that she had other reasons for wanting to tag along. Of course, it wasn't any of my business, but if she planned on ditching, I'd definitely be tagging along with her.

I didn't particularly want to spend my **entire** afternoon helping girls' pick out dresses.


	4. Troublesome

**Troublesome**

"That one, definitely." Jessica twirled about in a bright pink dress, a huge smile on her face, and next to her, Angela stood, looking a tad more reserved about her choice. The colors, as I had said, matched them perfectly, but while Jessica had a more... revealing dress, Angela's made sure to cover as much as possible. Opposites, really. It was amusing.

"Nice tits!" The loud, obnoxious voice of a man was heard through the window and we all jumped, looking to see a group of older, disgusting looking guys passing buy, huge grins on their faces.

"That's...-"

"Disgusting. Some people are just pigs." I shot a glare in the direction they went, but settled down quickly, everyone just deciding to pretend the guys hadn't even passed by.

"Bella?"

Jessica looked to the girl, curiously, though Bella was wrapped up in a book she had brought along with her. Lifting her head, she nodded, "Uh.. yeah, I agree. That one looks great."

"You.. aren't really into this.. are you?"

Obviously not. "Sorry.. dresses aren't really my.. forte. I actually want to check out this bookstore.." She motioned down to a paper in her hand, an address written on it. "Is it okay if we meet up with you guys at the restaurant?" We?

I glanced at her, and she met my gaze, almost smiling. "Uhm.. yeah, okay, if you're sure."

"Yeah. We won't be long." Standing, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along and out of the dress shop, away from the over-excited females.

We walked along the sidewalk heading further into town, a comfortable silence around us. I wasn't sure why she wanted me to come with her -I would have asked regardless-, but she had pretty much invited me. "So... bookstore?"

She nodded, not caring to elaborate and I shrugged, figuring I'd find out soon enough.

Thunderbird and Whale.

Strange name for a bookstore, but I suppose it was fitting, considering it was a more... tribal, Native American sort of place. It didn't take long for Bella to find the book she was looking for, but of course, I managed to get wrapped up in skimming through a few myself, specifically ones on Quileute history. After all, who wouldn't be interested in a tribe supposedly descended from wolves?

My mother had always told us we were descended from a special group of creature, though wouldn't elaborate on which, wanting to wait until we were older and 'ready'. Nuka knew already, which was pathetic, but considering I think it's a reason he's so damn stuck-up, I figured I could wait a while longer to know.

"I just bought that.. if you want to borrow it after." Bella held up her just purchased book, and I blinked, nodded, and set the one in my hands back on the shelf. We said goodnight to the salesman and left the store. "So you're.. interested in the Quileute?"

"I guess. Some of what I read reminded me of things my mom tells us.. stories about our family. So, the idea of them being wolf descendents is rather interesting. What about you?"

"Jacob was.. telling me some stuff at the beach the other day.. I wanted to learn more." I nodded, "He's Quileute.." Another nod, "he didn't want to talk about.. what I wanted to know.. but if you want to tag along next time I head to La Push.. you can see if he'll tell you? After all, you aren't interested in the..." She trailed off, but then shrugged a bit to herself, "The Cold Ones."

An eyebrow was raised at the term, but it wasn't something I was unfamiliar with. Cold Ones. Back in the last town we lived in, they used the term when referring to me, in regards to my skin.. and personality. The Cold One. It was an odd insult, hardly an insult at all, so when I asked my mom about it, she told me simply: it was from legend. A cold one, The cold ones, were what the natives called vampires, due to their ice cold skin.

Why Jacob would prefer to not speak to Bella about them, I hadn't the faintest, but it must have been for a good reason. Perhaps she was getting herself into –

I stopped walking, causing Bella to stop as well, as two people passed by the small alley way we were to go down to get to the road. They stopped and turned down, eying us. "Lookie, fellas, it's the pretty one from the dress shop and her fag"

My entire body tensed up and I felt what I could almost compare to fear. I took Bella's arm and pulled her in a different direction, hoping with all that I was that they either wouldn't follow us or would get bored.

Change of plans, as we wound up walking right into the rest of their little group. "Fuck." The curse escaped me before I could stop it. I stood in front of Bella, eyes narrowed, lip curled into a snarl as I eyed the men, who, fucking unfortunately, were circling and closing in on us.

They were drunk, all of them, and I could smell the beer on them. That, combined with their... musk, caused my nose to wrinkle in disgust and I wanted to gag.

"Outta the way, fag, we wanna have some fun with your little friend."

"How about you all back the hell off before I make you." They hesitated for a moment, my low, even, tone showing that I was serious in my threat, though I knew I wouldn't be able to do much. It was one against four, and the reason I'm not counting Bella is I didn't even know if she could fight.

As they advanced on us once more, one grabbed Bella, "Let go of me!" I turned, only to be met with a hard fist to my abdomen, causing me to drop to my knees, coughing, unable to breathe. I didn't think you could hit that hard if you were drunk.

As Bella's knee made contact with the attacker's groin, he stumbled back, but the others didn't give up, continuing to grab at her, touching her, and failing, though trying, to remove her jacket.

It's times like these I wish superheroes were real.

Headlights blinded me as a car whipped into the area, the parking lot, stopping less than a foot away from the guys. They jumped, backing up, and a male, my age, stepped out. He was pissed. No, he was beyond pissed. Pure hatred blazed in his eyes and if I didn't know better, I'd think he was ready to rip them to pieces. Taking a glance at me, then Bella, he took a step forward, grabbing my arm and pulling me up, before pushing me towards her, "You two. In the car."

Not giving it a second though, wanting to be anywhere in his way, I pulled Bella with me into the back seat of the guys car. He didn't follow us, instead staring down the group. I don't think Bella heard, but he growled, a low, angry, inhuman noise that would send shivers down even my brother's spine. We stared, both relieved and confused, as all of them got deathly quiet, stepping back ever so slowly. Disgusted, and finished with his intimidation, the guy stepped back, getting into the driver's seat of the car.

Shifting into drive, he sped forward, just a few feet, scaring the hell out of the drunk idiots, before backing up, turning, and driving off with skill I had not witnessed before. As we pulled away, I turned and looked out the back glass, my arms holding my stomach. I snorted as I saw the lot running away like scared dogs, then turned back forward and bend over, taking in slow, deep breaths.

"Are you okay?" His voice was just as angry as his eyes, his aura, and he sounded like he was having a hard time keeping himself in control. I didn't answer at first, figuring he was talking to Bella. "No, you, Kovu. Are **you** alright?"

"Y-yeah.. just.. yeah." A little pain was something I could handle, easily. I got beat up enough to be more than used to it. It just, well, it did still hurt.

"I should go back there and rip those guys' heads off."

"No.. you really shouldn't. That'd be a bit hard.. to explain."

I forced myself back up, hearing his knuckles clenching the steering wheel. "You don't know what they were thinking. The.. vile, disgusting.."

"And you do?" Bella spoke up finally, confused and concerned. While she had a point, even I can imagine what-

"It's not hard to guess." Exactly, thank you. They were a bunch of drunk perverts with one thing on their mind. Sex. Girl. Female. Take. Nuka got the same way when he drank, just like Johnathan. Alcohol wasn't my thing, thankfully, and it may have very well been for the fact that I didn't want to wind up being like either of them. "Can we talk about something else?" Desperation. "Distract me. Distract me so I won't turn around." Judging by his reaction, whatever those guys were thinking, he must have gotten full on, frontal view because I was pissed, yeah, but you don't generally get that mad unless you're either dating the person they were about, which wasn't the case, as I could see, or if you knew exactly what they were.

"You.. you should put your seatbelt on." The first thing to come to Bella's mind, and out of her mouth, and he laughed at it. The guy started laughing, actually laughing.

"You should put **your** seatbelts on."

He just laughed for a few more moments, then the atmosphere in the car calmed down noticeably. His rage faded, and while it was still there, it was nowhere near the level it was before. It was almost frightening how high it was, how angry he'd gotten. Either he is way overprotective of Bella or he really doesn't like perverts.

Maybe both.

With a sigh, I slowly removed my arms from my mid-section, lightly poking where the perv's fist had made contact. It hurt, a bit, meaning there was likely, a bruise. With my luck, a nasty one. I'd have to put something on it once I got home.

I noticed as the car stopped, that this fella – I really should ask his name – had brought us to the restaurant that we were supposed to eat at with Jessica and Angela. As we got out of the car, me a tad more slowly than Bella, they were just leaving.

Bella hurried ahead and I heard her talking to them, but paid no mind. I closed the door on my side of the car and leaned against it, lifting up my shirt to look at my stomach. It was bruised alright. The discoloration was already showing through, and it would likely be dark, dark purple by tomorrow.

"Are you sure you feel alright? That had to be a pretty hard hit." I felt myself twitch, and almost on instinct, jerked my shirt back down, not allowing him to see. I didn't need him to start questioning me about the **other** marks that were there.

"Yeah.. fine. I've taken harder hits." So I had. Like I had mentioned before, I was beat up a good bit when I wasn't being ignored. "Just hurts a little."

"If it continues to bother you.. after it fades, I would suggest seeing a doctor, just to be safe." Raising an eyebrow at his... behavior and strangely kind advice, I nodded and watched as he walked around the car, standing next to the girls.

"I'm sorry... I kept them from dinner. I ran into them at the bookstore and we all got to talking, showing Kovu around to a few neat stores in the area." His voice carried above theirs and I had to laugh at his lie. They ate it up, and from the way they were looking between the two, I'd have to guess that this was the guy from school, Edward, that Bella had been looking for.

Shit, if they weren't a couple before, they would be soon. Even I could see that they liked each other. They'd be a cute couple, though I can only imagine the vampire jokes that'll be made. Then again, maybe not. I mean, no one had made any about me yet..

Jessica and Angela left after a few minutes of conversation I didn't care to listen to, and the remaining two turned to me as I walked around the car, a bit closer to them, "Uhm, we're gonna grab something to eat.. would you like to join us?"

I didn't answer immediately, tilting my head in a dog-like manner at the two. Figuring I would assist in the game of matchmaker, I shook my head. "No, thank you. I should head home, actually, tend to my ah.. war wound." I pointed down to my stomach, "I'll see you both in school tomorrow, though.. It was nice to meet you, Edward." As I had been doing since I began arrived, I extended my hand, "Apologies if my hand is a tad cold; I don't produce body heat normally.."

That seemed to make him feel more.. comfortable?.. about the gesture, and he took my hand in his, giving a quick, firm shake. Ha, he was even colder than I was. Take that, mother, I am not the only person on earth that doesn't produce body heat.

"Are you sure? I mean, it isn't really.. safe for you to walk home by yourself.."

Giving a quick shrug, I turned and began making my way down the sidewalk, "I'll be fine. I'm not exactly a prime target for a mugging." Scrawny, androgynous teenager with no money? Yeah, I think I was pretty safe, and so long as no one saw my eyes, I don't think anyone would want to beat me up either. My only real issue with walking would be the cold, but home couldn't be **that** far away, so I think I'd be alright. "Night." I lifted my hand, giving a quick wave. It was going to be a long night.


	5. Forewarning

**The Beginning**

Something felt off. Something felt very, very, **very** off. I couldn't discern exactly what it was and it had been bothering the hell out of me all day. It felt almost like something was going to happen, and while I didn't know if it was something good or bad, I knew it was something **big**.

As I saw Bella walking towards the forest after school, Edward following behind her, I knew it would involve them. Of course it was going to involve them. Other than my family, they, Bella and the Cullens, were the only strange people in Forks, and nothing ever happens to ordinary people.

My eyes followed the path they were taking and I stared hard at Edward. He paused, if for a moment, feeling my eyes on him. Figuring he would, if nothing else, pick up on the threatening aura I was making an attempting to put off to accompany my thoughts.

I swear on my blood that if something happens to Bella, I will make it my lifelong goal to make you regret the day you were born, Edward Cullen. When I finished, he turned his head, looking directly at me. Wish a quick nod, he went back to following her and I sighed, figuring I'd head back home to find something to do to clear my head.

"I swear to the gods, Erica, that if that worthless excuse of a child turns out to be one of **us** I will kill him on the spot! I will not have that... **thing** threatening Nuka's rightful place!" Johnathan, of course, but what in the world was he even yelling about.

"You know he is! And so is Vitani! And if **Nuka** was meant to have that forsaken position, then he would have **my** eyes, not yours!"

Movement caught my eye and I spotted Vitani at the end of the hallway, waving at me to get my attention.

Quickly, I snuck past the kitchen entrance, scooping her up and carrying her into my room at the end of the hall, shutting the door. Tears stained her cheeks and I felt myself shake a little, knowing that it was their fighting that had upset her. "Hey, Vita... how about we go back to the beach? I'll even take you on the bike so we get there faster and can stay longer."

"W-will you play w-with me?" Without even a moments hesitation, I nodded, "Promise...?" Another nod, and she nodded back.

"Just let me go tell them we're leaving. I'd rather not be... punished for it later." She gave me another now, one of understanding, and I went back to the kitchen where three sets of eyes were aimed at me, two bright, almost glowing blue, and one matching my own. The blue eyes were filled with anger, hatred even, and I could even see a speck of fear in them. My mom's eyes though, held joy, love, promise.

As I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her what Vitani and I were going to do, something very hard made contact with my abdomen, causing my to, like the night before, drop to my knees. The pain was almost overwhelming and I coughed, gagged, saliva mixed with stomach acid being spit out onto the floor. "**Nuka Pride!**" I didn't look up, I couldn't. My arms were wrapped around my stomach and I felt tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

"How **dare** you lay a hand on him!" Mom stepped in front of me – I saw her shoes -, her voice louder and angrier than it had been when they were arguing, "What do you think gives you the right to hit your brother!"

No response was given, but mom yelled out as she was shoved to the side, stumbling. I heard her catch herself on the table, just before Nuka's foot made contact with my arms, having been aiming for my stomach. A second time, it made contact, then a third.

I heard mom yelling at him to stop, yelling at Johnathan to stop him. He didn't stop and Johnathan did nothing but laugh and laugh at the pain his fucking son was causing me. Another kick, I felt liquid rise in my throat. More stomach acid, this time accompanied by blood. My eyes locked onto the blood splatters, the red showing clearly on the white kitchen tiles.

Blood.

He was... making me..

He was hurting me..

He was trying to fucking **kill** me.

"Mommy! I called 911!" Vitani's voice reached me and I started shaking.

My brother was trying to kill me. He was going to do it in front of my mother. In front of my little sister. The shaking grew worse, more violent, and I heard, saw, Nuka step back. "Dad?" His voice was questioning, curious... afraid. My hands slowly released my middle and I placed them on the ground, pushing myself up.

I locked into Nuka's eyes with my own, something similar to a growl, a snarl, flowing from my throat. The shaking continued as I stepped towards him, the noises coming from me becoming very, very inhuman. For a brief moment, I thought about Edward, the growl he emitted towards Bella and I's attackers.

His pride -ignore the pun- seeming to momentarily return, Nuka lifted his arm and swung at me, his movements seeming to be in slow motion. Raising my right hand, I caught his fist and clenched down, my fingers tightening. "Let go of me you freak!" My mouth opened and a noise I could only describe as a roar came out as I gripped as hard as I physically could.

The next few minutes went by so fast that I can't remember everything that actually happened. I know I was kicked away from Nuka. I know that he was screaming in pain. I could feel Vitani clinging to me, her and mother asking if I was alright.

Things were blurry, I couldn't breathe correctly. Everything hurt, but it was a thousand times worse in my chest and stomach. My head burned.

The next thing I knew, I was staring up at a pure white tile ceiling. Hospital, of course. The smell of sterilization and sick people flooded my nose and I wanted to vomit, though settled on just forcing myself to take long deep breaths to get used to it.

No one else was in the room with me, but I could see people walking past me in the hallway. Not wanting to make the effort to speak -figuring it would hurt a hell of a lot considering the fact that breathing was uncomfortable-, I pursed my lips together and whistled as a doctor walked by. It was, unfortunately, low, and I didn't think he'd actually heard it.

But, he turned into my room anyhow, and as he approached the bed I was in, I knew immediately that he had some relation to Edward. His skin was the same, unnatural pale, and his eyes shined a golden-topaz color.

"It's good to see you finally awake, Kovu." I said nothing, staring at him. "You took some very hard hits, but it seems you managed to prevent any internal damage." My eyes drifted to my arms, which were black and blue with bruises, "Yes. I cannot imagine why your brother would choose to attack you in such a manner though."

"I.." Oh yeah that hurt. Just relax and breathe, Kovu. "No idea.. said I was a threat to his.. rightful place or something.." Dr. Cullen made a face, slightly confused, but I could see that he knew what I was talking about. "How long do I have to stay here?"

"Until tomorrow, at least, so we can make sure there isn't anything wrong that hasn't shown up yet. We want to make sure you'll recover normally before sending you home." I nodded, sighing. It figures I'd have to stay, but it was understandable. Nuka can kick like a donkey, so I'm actually surprised that even through my arms, he didn't crack some ribs or rupture something. "Bella and Edward said they'd stop by in a little while to check up on you and your mother wanted me to tell you they'd be back tomorrow..." He hesitated before continuing, "She's going file both divorce papers and a restraining order, to make sure your fath-"

"Johnathan. He's.. not my father.." Blood or not, that fucking monster and his pathetic son were **not** my family.

"Johnathan and Nuka, would have to stay far away from you and Vitani."

Good then. Nodding, I let out a relieved sigh, "About time.."

"I'll leave you to rest for now. If you need anything or if the pain gets to be too much, buzz the nurse and I'll bring you some medication. For now, try to relax. Everything is going to be fine." He turned to leave, but paused, "Also, Kovu, once you are fully healed, I'd like you to come see me at my office." Why would- "We need to talk about your problem."

Problem...

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around myself, knowing immediately what it was he was referring to.

He left the room and I decided it would be a good idea to look over myself, see how all the visible bruises looked and give me a general estimation on about how long they would take to heal.

My arms... not too bad. Black and blue marks covered my forearms, almost in the shape of his shoe-print, and while they were tender, they didn't really hurt like one would expect them too. I gently touched on my face, nothing there, thankfully.

My torso though, looked like absolute hell. My entire stomach, from my pants like to my ribcage was blue, purple, and green, a red hue around the entire area. My chest was similar, but not nearly as bad, but considering how much it hurt, I'd guess that the bruises there were primarily internal.

Nothing that would be visible when I returned to school or went out, so that was good. I'd just have to make sure no one decided to poke at me.

As I relaxed, as best I could, pulling the horribly thin hospital blanket up to my shoulders, my thoughts drifted to what they had been arguing about when I returned home.

What the hell did they mean by me being a threat to Nuka?


	6. Friendship

**Friendship**

I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't.

I stared at myself in the large mirror hanging on my closet door, shirtless. It was unbelievable.

All the marks, all the bruises were just... gone. They all had healed at such a phenomenal rate, that I just... wow. Shit, even all of my other wounds were healed, the normal scarring not even visible.

My mom didn't seem surprised, neither did Dr. Cullen. Vitani was absolutely amazed at how fast I healed, but still made sure to be extra gentle with me; not hugging me too hard, not pouncing on me like she had the tendency to do when she was excited.

It was only Sunday, so it had been... a little over three days since it happened, so you can imagine my surprise. I smiled, poking my belly, not feeling even the smallest twinge of pain. I have to say, having only been in Forks for about a week, it was definitely the strangest, most interesting week of my entire life. Friends? Abuse? Fuck, I had smiled more in the last week, and meant it, than I had since I was **five**. I knew that my walls were breaking down, faster than I ever expected them too, and while I had a great deal of control over my emotions, my reactions, I couldn't stop myself from feeling just... amazed at all of it.

"Mom, I'm heading down to the beach. I want to... get out for a while." She didn't respond, but gave me a wave as I passed the living room. Vitani was at a friend's house -yeah, I found out she had a group of little pals too-, so I didn't have to worry about her wanting to tag along.

The clouds were darker than I thought they'd be, but I still hopped onto the bike and left. If the weather started to get bad, I'd just head back home, simple as that. Well, maybe, anyway.

The beach was, was I expected, completely empty, not a single person to be seen for as far as I could see. Considering the fact that it was cold, and, obviously, going to rain, no one in their right mind would come to the beach. Now, I don't consider myself to really be in my right mind, and as such, here I am.

I had no real idea of what I was going to do; playing in the sand didn't appeal to me and there was no way in hell I was going to get in the water. I'd die. So I settled on taking a walk, leaving my bike up near the road, hoping that no one would decide to steal it when I was gone. Then again, who would steal a pink bike?

My shoes left prints in the sand as I walked, though they weren't all that noticeable as the sand was mostly dry – it hadn't rained in a few days -, but I still watched them, the sand slowly sliding into place to fill the spaces. I was mostly watching where I was walking, not wanting to trip over something -again-, and wind up face first in the sand.

I couldn't believe all that had been going on, that had happened already... and I just knew that there was more to come. There was no way that this was it, which meant that I'd have to go back to my meditation exercises in order to keep my mind strong, to keep my defenses ready for anything that would come. I couldn't let myself fall back into the fragile state of being that I used to be, not here, not now, not **ever**.

It shouldn't have to be that way, I shouldn't have to do that, but, I did, willingly. It allowed me to keep from breaking, it allowed me to protect Vitani.

But now, thinking about it, it also kept me from being a friend. I could hang out with people, Bella for example, and have fun, or, something along the lines of fun, but it didn't make me happy. I had nothing to give her, or anyone, in return for being nice to me, for hanging out with me. I couldn't laugh at a joke or smile at a compliment, well, I could, but I never really... meant it. There was no emotion or heart in anything I did.

That first day, I felt my walls crack, at least one, due to the jealousy I felt at the warmth that Bella and Jacob gave off. I was jealous of their fucking **body heat**, which was ridiculous. But, I guess being cold for so long and not having contact with anyone outside of my family.. I never had the chance to **be **jealous before.

And when I went out with the girls, and we were attacked... I got angry. I got angry because I was afraid, not just for me, but for both of us. If Edward hadn't shown up when he did, I'd have wound up in the hospital and Bella.. I can't even imagine what would have happened to her.

Nuka... I couldn't even remember everything that happened that day. I just knew that he beat the fuck out of me, more or less, and I got pissed off. Then, hospital.

Was being in Forks changing me? Or... was it the people? For the first time in a long time, people were talking to me, being friendly. I hadn't had a single insult thrown at me -the drunks don't count- and no one tried to hurt me -Nuka also doesn't count-. People ignored me still, but not nearly as much, and once they spoke with me, they stopped doing that too. I was around normal people and...

It was weird.

Very weird... but I couldn't help but... like it. Having someone around me who actually wanted to be was different and I knew I'd never be able to go back to living how I was before. I'd never be comfortable with that level of solitude again.

But was that a good thing...?

Oh, look at that, I managed to faceplant the sand anyway.

"You must really like the taste of sand." Jacob -I recognized the voice instantly-, spoke, humor in his voice as he grabbed my arm gently, helping me stand back up. I shook the sand off of me, wiping what I could from my clothes, and sighed.

"Not particularly, I'm just unlucky."

"Clumsy seems to fit you better." He laughed as he spoke, shaking his head, "What're you doing here by yourself?"

"Just..." What **was** I doing, again? Oh, yeah, "Clearing my head, looking over the last weeks events..." among other things, apparently. "What about you?"

"I live here." On... the beach...? "You're on Quileute lands." Oh, well, shit. "And before you start apologizing -I can see it on your face-, it's fine. I was just curious." I started walking again, slowly at first, seeing if he'd follow along -company would be... nice, after all- and he did. "I live a couple miles up the road with my dad. It's not often people just wander into the Reservation, I have to admit."

"I live... a mile or so away, near the edge of Forks, I guess... I like the beach, it's a good place to relax." Doing a good job so far, if I do say so myself. Conversation wasn't something I was normally very good at. "So you'll probably see me here a lot."

"That's cool. I'll have to wander by sometimes to see if I can catch you. After all, it's always good to have some company, and I don't imagine Bella would be tagging along with you..." His statement was more of a question, and I knew exactly what he was asking.

"No. She'll likely be too wrapped up in..." Should I tell him? I mean, it wasn't really any of his business... but he did have a crush on her from what I could tell, so it would be better to let him know now as opposed to him finding out later, likely from seeing them together. "She'll probably be hanging out with her boyfriend a lot." He frowned at the word boyfriend, "She's dating someone named Edward... not sure if you know him.." I didn't know if he would, since he didn't go to our school, but by the scowl on his face, I'd imagine he knew exactly who it was I was talking about.

"Cullen? She's dating a Cullen?" I simply nodded, shoving my hands into my pockets to warm up. "Great. That means she'll never come back around..." Well I wouldn't go that far. She was his friend after all. She'd have to stop by sometime, even if Edward had to tag along. "The Cullen's... aren't welcome here, so if she's with him..."

Ah, well, then he might not see her that often. He looked so... disappointed at that realization, sad, and I almost felt sorry for him... "Hey, look... I'll make sure to bring her along sometime... after all, spending all of your free time with your significant other could be... a bit unnerving after a while, so it'll be good for her to take a break and hang out with... friends..." It sounded so foreign to me, that word.

"I'd like that." A smile, albeit a small one, was once again on his face. "So... what's been going on with you that lead you to need some relaxation away from it all? School too hard on you?"

"Er... not really... I only really have trouble with art.. crazy teacher and all. Wants us to draw something... expressive. Something absolutely bursting with emotion." A project I would very likely get an "F" on, seeing as I **still** didn't have any ideas. "Other than that... just family trouble..."

I stopped walking as a particularly loud burst of thunder shook the sky, causing me to jump. I felt my heart rate increase and took in a sharp breath. "I take it you aren't a fan of storms?"

Running a hand through my hair, I shook my head, "I'm usually... alright with them... kind of. That just took my by surprise." Which was true. While I didn't enjoy storms normally -the loud boom of thunder really freaked me out-, it was just the shock -no pun intended- that got me most of the time. You can't predict thunder, and the count after lightning wasn't always accurate, so, yeah, not fun for me.

"Do you wanna come hang at my shop?" Taken by surprise at the random and... confusing question, I looked over to Jacob, head tilted to the side, eyebrow raised. "Well, it's not really a shop, yet, not officially. I'm a mechanic, or, in training one. I work on cars, trucks, bikes; anything I can get my hands on." Oooh, well, that's interesting. He didn't really seem like the mechanic type.

"Uhm... yeah, sure. Maybe it'll help me think of.. something for my art project." A quick nod, "I just need to grab my bike and we can go."


	7. Accidents

**Accidents**

I wound up spending all of Sunday afternoon with Jacob, watching him work on, what I called, new toy; the Rabbit, while trying to explain to me what this and that was, how this worked, what the tools were called and the different things they were used for. He was very happy to have someone to talk to about it all, and was absolutely ecstatic when he noticed that I was actually paying attention to it all, being interested myself. After all, you never know when knowledge like that would come in handy, especially with how often I got into trouble.

It wound up raining pretty hard on Monday, and all day, so I wasn't able to even consider making plans to go back to La Push, meaning I had nothing to look forward to doing after school except hanging out with Vita or helping mom with dinner.

When I arrived at school though, that feeling that something was off hit me with full force, and the first thing I noticed? Bella **wasn't** at school. Now, I didn't think Edward would have done anything to her, no, they had talked to me, or, he did, while I was in the hospital, and pretty much swore on his life that he would never do anything to hurt her. He looked so... sincere, that I had no choice but to believe him, after threatening him, once again, to get my point across.

The second thing I noticed, though this wasn't until Gym class, was that Edward wasn't at school either. Okay, that was a tad odd, considering the only time a Cullen missed school, from what I had been told, was if it was sunny, and the sun was nowhere to be seen today.

A bad feeling began to pool in the pit of my stomach, which was made worse as the day went on. None of the Cullens, I repeat, **none** of them were at school. It was possible that they decided to have some special "family day" and being Bella along, since she was sort of in their family now, but... that just didn't seem likely.

I asked Jessica, who didn't particularly seem to care, but said she had no idea where they were. Angela told me the same, as did Mike and Eric. No one had seen any of them, but Angela told me that she was worried as well, since she hadn't heard from Bella all weekend, and they were supposed to hang out Sunday evening. She suggested I go to her house after school -Bella's- to see if maybe she was sick or something.

As soon as my final class ended and I stepped out of the building, I took out my cell phone and flipped through my contacts. Thankfully, I had the mind to put in the addresses of the people I knew, in case someone wanted to do something -I'd be able to find them faster-. Bella didn't live too far away from the school, actually, she lived pretty close to me, so I flipped up my hood to somewhat protect me from the rain, and made my way to Bella's house, hoping with all of my being that she was home, sick or something, and that the feeling in my gut was wrong.

But it just wasn't. It wasn't wrong. Something terrible was happening and when I saw Bella's dad at the door, eyes red, face stained, every single bad thing I could have ever imagined happening flew through my head.

"If you're here... she left. She packed up last night... she's heading back to Phoenix." Not know what to say, or do, I apologized for... I don't even know what, and left.

I will hold by what I said, and if Edward, if any of them, did something to hurt her, I would make sure they regretted it.

Tuesday was the same thing; none of them were at school. No one seemed to question their absence, and when I'd bring it up, it would simply be shrugged off. I couldn't believe that she would just up and leave like that, and even if she did, it didn't explain why none of the Cullens weren't at school.

That bad feeling got worse, a lot worse, and by that afternoon, when I went visit Jacob in La Push, it was almost making me sick.

"You don't look so good..."

"I think I'm just... worrying too much." He didn't ask, but stayed quiet, waiting for me to explain, setting down the wrench that was in his hand as he sat next to me. "Bella hasn't been at school in two days... and neither have the Cullens. I don't think they'd do anything to hurt her... I already explained what would happen if they -he- did... but I just have this bad feeling. Like something's going on that I don't know about, and she **will** wind up hurt."

Not sure what to do, Jacob simply frowned, setting his hand on my shoulder, "Look... she'll be alright. Just wait. She'll be back at school tomorrow, glued to... him, and things'll be fine." I wanted to believe him, but I knew it wasn't true. "You seem to care about her a lot..."

I shook my head, knowing at once what he was insinuating. "She's my.. friend... just like you... I... you two were the first people to ever... treat me like a person. Call me clingy.. or overprotective.. but I..." I can't afford to lose the only real **friends**, I'd likely ever have. I didn't know why I had grown so attached to her, to either of them, especially since I had no real attachment to any of my other "friends". I cared about them, I guess, to an extent, but I was actually afraid of losing Jacob or Bella. Something about them just... pulled me to them. I felt almost like I was meant to protect them.

Almost as if he knew what I meant, and I hoped he did, because I was in no mood to explain, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a weird side-hug, rubbing my arm. Hesitantly, I placed my head on his shoulder, sighing.

Friday afternoon rolled around, and as soon as I walked in the door, Vitani jumped on me, "You have a phone call!"

Unsure of who would be calling me, especially at my house, I picked Vita up, holding her in my arms as I walked to the kitchen, grabbing the phone off the counter, "Hello?"

"Kovu?"

It was Edward's voice. He sounded tired, exhausted almost, though... relieved. "Yes?"

"Can you come down to the hospital? Room 245."

"Uh... sure?"

The phone clicked off after that, and I set Vita down on the counter, "You stay home, okay? Tell mom I'm going visit Bella in the hospital. I'll be back by ten." I know he didn't say it was her, but he didn't have to. It was Edward, and considering that Bella was the only person that we had in common, as far as I knew, friend-wise, it had to be her. After all, he wouldn't have called me if it were one of his siblings.

"Is she okay?" Poor Vita. She sounded even more worried than I thought she would and it made be feel terrible. She always grew very attached to people she met, even if it was just once, especially if she knew they would wind up playing some big part in her life -I never understood how she knew that, but she hadn't been wrong yet-, so I knew for a fact that her worry would rival that of Bella's father.

"I don't know yet..." Vita frowned and hugged me tight, "How about... you make a get well soon card? I can bring it up to her tomorrow." I'd never seen a frown change so fast in my life, and as soon as the smile made it's way onto her face she jumped off the counter and ran off down the hall to her room.

"Bella's in the hospital?" Mom walked into the kitchen as I was walking out, and I nodded, "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I was just told to go down there."

"Well, text me when you get there then, and when you're on your way back. It's supposed to storm tonight and I don't want you getting caught in that." I really would never get used to the weather in this town. Geez. Like we didn't have enough rain.

"I will." Well, I would try to anyway. There was no guarantee I would remember to do so, and thankfully, she knew that. I always turned back up eventually, so if I didn't call, text, or even come home right away, she knew I'd come back at some point. In her words 'you have to get hungry sometime'.

Anyway, the hospital, yes, was within walking distance. Good thing too, as when I went outside, I noticed that the bike had, thank you bad luck, a flat tire, meaning I'd have to pick one up on my way home so I'd have a ride to school.

I kept watch on the sky as I walked, the dark clouds moving at a scarily fast pace. I was silently hoping that they would simply pass us over, that the storm wouldn't come, but there was little to no chance of that actually happening. One can hope though.

When I entered the hospital, I didn't even bother taking the elevator – I don't like them, never have- and speed-walked up the stairs to the second level. My hands were shoved into my jacket pockets and were clenched into fists. The closer I got to the room she was in, the more I noticed myself growing... angry. The beat of my heart sped up and my breathing got heavier. My fists clenched tighter and I could feel my head beginning to burn.

As I stood outside of the room, I took a long, deep breath, willing myself with all that I was to **calm down**. I didn't know what I was getting that way, but this was not the time or place for it. I was going to find out what happened and in order to do that, I needed to be calm. Otherwise I might be removed from the facility.

Quickly, remembering at the last moment, I pulled out my phone, sent a quick 'made it' to my mom, and stepped into the room. Bella's... mother, I assumed, was sitting on the bed at her side, and Edward was on the small couch near the wall. "I'll be back in a few minutes Mrs. Dwyer." She nodded to him and he walked over, and past me, out of the room. I followed, of course, and we walked all the way **back** downstairs and to a hallway apart from the lobby, where a handicap restroom was located -currently closed for cleaning-.

"Do you plan on telling me exactly what happened?"

He paused, but nodded, "We had a fight. She decided to drive to Phoenix, spend time with her mother to clear her head. I followed her to try and clear things up." I stared at him, watching him intently as he spoke, listening to every single word, "She came with me to the hotel I was staying at and tripped." While not impossible... "She managed to fall down two flights of stairs and roll out of a window. She's bruised and cut up, her leg is broken, but she'll be alright."

_He's lying._

I inwardly flinched, the suddenness of the voice -my conscience?- momentarily scaring me. Edward looked to me, watching, obviously waiting for some form of response.

I stared, still, a frown making it's way onto my face. It was quiet for a few minutes, the silence was... unwelcoming, awkward almost, but neither of us moved, or made a move to leave.

"So, now that we've gotten the cover out of the way, how about you tell me what actually happened? And don't tell me that **is** what actually happened because as possible as the scenario is, as I am a firm believer of 'anything is possible', it is highly unlikely, improbable. I may not have known Bella long, but she for one, is not known for emotional breaks such as that, and would not run away from a problem, especially not one involving **you.** She wouldn't leave her father behind, not like that."

"I didn't think you'd believe me." Good then, he's got a bit more going for him than I originally gave credit for.

"Are you going to tell me, then? Or am I to assume it's your doing?"

"I would **never** hurt her. I care for her far too much to do... to do that."

"You know, I would like to believe you, but since you are telling me nothing but lies in regards to what actually did happen, I have nothing else to go on."

He didn't say anything, and as we stared each other down, I felt that anger coming back. Without even giving a thought to what I was doing, I raised my arm and punched him, square in the jaw.

This is where it gets really fun.

So, I'm pretty sure I just bruised all of my knuckles, first of all, and I'll be lucky if I didn't fracture one or two. As I'm hissing in pain, shaking off my hand, my brain is putting together what just happened, and why it went wrong.

So, he's pale as fuck. He's cold as ice. His eyes are abnormal -not that I have room to talk-. Let's not forget that he pretty much read my mind, multiple times. And, low and behold, he's as hard as stone. Great, just great.

"Are you alright?"

"No I'm not alright you fucking vampire, I just bruised my hand." At least **that** made him flinch. "I'm surprised I didn't break anything." I held my hand in front of me, wincing as I wiggled my fingers, the discoloration already starting to show. "I'll let it go, for now, but you owe me an explanation."

"I suppose I do.." Seems I just made his day a little worse. Good. "Let's... get you some ice for that, and head back up to the room."


	8. Secrets?

**Secrets?**

"I want you to come... hang out with me this afternoon." I raised an eyebrow at Edward, looking up from my sketchbook where I had -finally- been sketching out my project for Art. "At my place. My family wants to meet you and Carlisle said he's been needing to speak with you since your incident."

Ah, of course. The doctor -surgeon, really, so I didn't understand exactly why he suggested it-, wanted to talk to me about my **problem**, as he put it. As far I as saw it, it wasn't an issue. I wasn't hurting anyone -other than myself- and it always healed up well enough.

As for his family, well... seeing them all watching and paying very close attention to what was going on, even from across the cafeteria, was a little unnerving. I knew they could hear every word either of us would say.

Placing my attention back on the conversation at hand, I noticed that it appeared that Edward intended on staring me down until I either agreed or got up and left, so, with a begrudged sigh, I gave in, "Fine. But I am only going to talk to Dr. Cullen. I do not want to have a meet and greet with anyone in your family and if this is about me calling you out at the hospital the other day, I'm not going to go blabbing. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly normal myself." I pointed to my eyes, "So if I accused anyone of being anything, it would be turned around on me, very quickly."

"Actually it's your eyes that have attracted their attention. It's obvious that you yourself aren't exactly... normal, and we simply wish to ask some questions, talk."

Standing up, I snapped my book closed, "Fine. But I'm bringing Vitani."

I didn't give him the chance to respond or tell me otherwise, as I walked away. It was almost time for Biology, and I didn't want to risk being late. It came to me as I was walking to class, Edward right behind me as I forgot we shared that class, that he very likely didn't know who Vitani **was**. And that I probably should elaborate on that. Then again, mister mind reader could figure it out for himself.

The last couple classes flew by, unfortunately, meaning that I needed to go home, and then, make my way to the Cullen's house. I really didn't want to go, I'd personally prefer going hang out in La Push, but I already said I would, and they might be able to tell me something about myself that I didn't already know. Normal, I knew we weren't, but I had the feeling that he meant we weren't exactly **human**.

Which was not something I had previously been informed of. So, I would go along to this little meeting, learn what I could, and then proceed to interrogate my mother when I got home. I knew this had to have something to do with the fight her and Johnathan were having that day when Nuka put **me** in the hospital.

"Hey." Edward popped up beside me as I turned onto the sidewalk, and I jumped, shooting him a half-hearted glare. "My apologies. I just wanted to offer you a ride. My home is a good ways away from yours and it would be more convenient for me to drive you." I didn't want to, but, he had a point, plus, I didn't want to make Vitani walk all that way. She was a bundle of energy, sure, but that would just be cruel.

"Alright."

I didn't have to tell him where I lived, so I'm guessing that he either already knew or just picked it out of my head, which was fine by me. It's not like I really cared.

As I approached the door though, I paused, glancing back at him, "I already know most vampire lore is... false, in your case, but I figured I'd ask; do I have to personally invite you in?"

Tilting his head to the side, he laughed, "I don't believe I've heard that one before, but no. No personal invitation required." Shrugging, I allowed him to follow me into the house and into the kitchen. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Pride."

My mother turned from the counter where she was chopping vegetables, and smiled brightly, "Good afternoon! Kovu's never brought a friend home before. I should mark this on the calender. What a glorious day!" She was, of course, joking, but I felt my face heat up. She laughed, they both laughed, and I just shook my head.

"Mom, Vitani and I are going to Edward's," I pointed my thumb in his direction, "place for the afternoon."

"I'll be sure to have them back before it gets too late." She gave me an odd look, confused and curious. I shrugged back at her, saying I didn't know what was going on.

"Alright."

"You," I looked to Edward, "Stay here. I'll going get Vita." As I walked down the hall, I figured that what I had just done likely wasn't a very good idea, but I didn't want him following me around the entire house. "Vita."

I popped my head into her room, and she jumped up, grinning, "Ko! Ko! Guess what! I finished Bella's get well card! Can you give it to her?"

"Tomorrow, okay? Today we're going hang out with Edward, Bella's boyfriend."

"Edward? Well... if you're sure about it then okay..." She scooped all of her crayons off of the little desk and dropped them in their box, scooting it back into it's cubby hole. "Should I bring anything with me?"

"Drawing pad or something, I guess. Just to have something to do if it gets boring. I'm bringing mine too." I had to say, Vita was a lot like me. Total opposite in personality of course, her being very open and welcoming, bright, cheerful. But when it came to talents and likes/dislikes, well. You could tell we were related. Even at eight years old, her drawing skills were phenomenal, and she rivaled me. She was kind of shaky still, so things weren't perfect, and she preferred coloring over actually drawing, but even still. If she chose to take on art as a career, she'd be set for life as long as she kept with it. Personally, I didn't have the patience for it. I'd rather be moving around and doing something, not stuck sitting in one place for hours and hours on end.

"Ready!" She had her Princess Peach backpack in her arms, drawing pad, pencils, colors, and whatever else she grabbed inside.

We walked to the kitchen, but I paused before turning into it, stopping Vita at my side.

"Are you sure this is a good idea...? Nothing is even going to happen until he's eighteen..."

"Actually, due to a growing number of factors, we have reason to believe it will happen within the next year, if not few months. But we will have to continue this conversation later, as I believe it is time for us to head out."

Meaning he knew we were there and didn't want me to hear exactly what it is they were talking about. The whole secret keeping shit was really starting to bug me.

_All will be known soon enough._

And there goes my conscience again. I feel like I'm starting to go crazy. I blame this town. Seriously. Nothing like this started to happen until I moved here. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to be away from Johnathan and Nuka, but man.

"Have fun, you two!" Fun, yeah, sure. I was going to a vampire doctor's house to be interrogated and told that I need to stop with my 'bad habit'.

"Carlisle just thinks you'll be... safer if you stop." I shot him a glare. Yeah. Safer from what? You?

He didn't respond, but his eyes told me I was correct. Fear of a vampire was not enough to stop what I did. If he were to kill me, then so be it, but I would not under any circumstance, go down without one hell of a fight.

"He also wants to check on your bruising from before... and your hand."

"What happened to your hand, Ko?"

I hadn't thought she'd be listening. "I got upset and ah..." Well, she'd now if I were lying... "I punched Edward here. Bruised it up a bit."

"Oh wow! Did it hurt?"

"Not particularly, I barely felt it, to be honest." Edward gave a sort of half smile, but Vita poked her tongue out at him.

"Not you! I know it didn't hurt you. Vampies skin is super tough, so I wouldn't imagine you'd have felt it at all."

Okay, so, that was. Wait. What. "What are you talking about, Vita?"

"Him, of course. He's a vampy, right? After all, he's super pale and his eyes are weird, like ours, but not! And he smells really weird."

Both Edward and I grew very quiet and didn't say anything else for the duration of the car ride. Vita though, decided it would be a great opportunity to fill me in on everything she just so happened to know. "I'm right, right! I knew it! I found all these books in mommy's room once and they talked about vampys and shape shifters and zombies and werewolfs and all sorts of stuff like we see in the movies!

She even had a book about our family, Ko! I couldn't read much in that one cause it was all written in some weird language like Russian or something, with all these weird symbols and drawings, but it had lots of pretty pictures in it of all sorts of neat stuff!

Anyway, the one on vampys was really big and thick and it had a bunch of pictures of different types of vampys. Edward is a more human type one, cause he has normal teef and can go in sunlight and since his eyes aren't red that means he doesn't eat people!

But I didn't get to read much more cause mommy called me for dinner and I had to pick up all the books and when I went back, they were gone! So I think mommy moved them somewhere."

I rubbed my temples, sighing, very annoyed. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself, not wanting to be visibly seething when we went inside -I don't think that would make for a very good first impression-, and got out of the car, Vita following close behind me, a big smile on her face as she hummed some random song.

"Carlisle and Esme should be waiting for us in the living room." A small part of my brain wanted to snort at the very bad joke it made, but I kept a straight face, biting down on my tongue as we entered, two pairs of topaz eyes staring at us.

"Hi there! My name's Vitani and this is my big brother Kovu!" She ran from behind me right up to the two older vampires, extending her hand to shake. The female, Esme I presumed, returned her smile and happily shook her hand.

"Hi there Vitani. I'm Esme. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Esme? That's a really pretty name! It fits you cause you're really pretty too!"

Esme let out a small laugh and Vita turned to Carlisle, who shook her hand as well, "I'm Carlisle. I'm glad you and your brother could join us today."

"I'm glad we could too! Ko doesn't take me with him often because he doesn't want me to get into trouble while he's flirting with the cute boys in La Push so I'm really really happy that-"

I had to tune her out as she went on, my hand covering my face. She was definitely something else. I'd have to talk to her later about what she should and should not tell people she just met, and explain that I did **not** go to La Push to **flirt** with anyone.

"Okay, I think that's enough for now, Vitani. I'm not sure how much more embarrassment your brother can take today." She looked at Edward, who was trying to hold back chuckles of his own, then shrugged, taking a seat on the sofa and pulling out her drawing book.

"Esme, this is Kovu. Kovu, Esme. She's my mother, of sorts, as Carlisle is my father." In other words, his sire and his sire's wife, as Esme didn't look the type to inflict that kind of pain on anyone. No offense to Carlisle of course, but he was a surgeon. It just made more sense to me.

"Kovu, would you please come with me to my office. I'd like to speak with you privately. Esme and Edward will keep Vitani company."

I hesitated as he stood, not moving. Was I scared? Worried? He wasn't going to hurt me, I knew that, so why did I hesitate? Perhaps it was because I knew what we were going to talk about? I mean, the supernatural stuff didn't particularly bother me, no reason it would, but... my other issue, I guess, was the cause. I'd never spoken with anyone about it before, and no one **knew** about it before.

Noticing my reaction, and lack of movement, Edward placed a hand on my shoulder, gently nudging me forward. Slowly, I began making my way across the room, following after Carlisle.

There was no way this was going to go well.


	9. Unexpected

**Unexpected**

"I would, first of all, like to ask you what it is that compels you to do this. It is obvious that it is not something you would do for fun, but I would like to know the exact reasoning behind it so we can, hopefully, find a way to help break you of the habit, before something happens to you." I didn't speak, just stared at him, a frown on my face, my hands pushed as far as they could go into my jacket pockets. "Other than the obvious possibility of an infection or of you contracting something from the particular instrument you use, there are... others who would very easily be able to track you by the smell of blood you constantly have on your person, making it very dangerous for you and those around you, to so much as walk outside."

I could understand where he was coming from, somewhat anyway. Reeking of blood would pretty much make me scream "eat me" to any vampires -or other blood lusting creatures- that would happen to cross by Forks, but it wasn't exactly something I did because I wanted ti. It was an escape, a release, a way for me to feel without feeling, if that made any sense.

"People like me... need a way to cope." Finding the correct wording for this was far more difficult than I would have imagined it to be. "I don't know what it is that caused what happened... what it is that, for my entire life up until we moved to Forks, people chose to either ignore my entire existence, acting as though I wasn't there, or in the rare cases that they chose to see me, would turn me into the subject of complete ridicule. I had been beaten up, stabbed, pushed into lockers and just generally made fun of. This started when I was **five**." I snorted,

"At which point my brother, Nuka, and sperm donor, Johnathan, also began ignoring me, and I mean ignoring me. To them, I wasn't even present in the fucking house. They wouldn't set a place for me at the table, they would throw away my things if I left them out. I was an outcast. No one wanted me and no one liked me, with the exception of my mother."

"Did anyone ever tell you why they would do this?"

"Hell no. It just started happening on my fifth birthday! Mom was as happy as she could be; I remember her saying something about my eyes, so I guess that was when they changed to this." I pointed to my eyes as I looked at Carlisle. "So after about five years of that shit, I got tired of crying, of being sad, of being hurt, so I started looking into meditation techniques, and yeah, weird stuff for a kid, but I'd seen it on TV." I shrugged. "Did that for a while, managed to build what's called a wall, or... a few of them, and locked away all my little feels in a box behind all of 'em.

"After that, things started to feel hollow, and no matter what I did, I couldn't bring myself to knock those walls down. They had become, for all intents and purposes, a permanent mental defense against the world... so I resorted to, well, **that**, in order to feel something other than... uncaring? The pain was real, and I accepted the consequences of it, and still do. I haven't been doing it as much since we moved to Forks.."

"Because people are accepting you." He offered me a sort of half smile, but I looked away from him, "I can't tell you why people treated you that way, it isn't my place, but I think you'll realize it soon. And it's linked to the very same reason that people are acknowledging you now. Your sister is in a similar situation, but what's inside of her is not nearly as protective because she isn't threatened. You are, indeed, a very special case when it comes to this, and I suggest you look back into your meditation. You may find out that you knew exactly what was going on all along."

I nodded, sighing, "Perhaps. I'll give it a shot, but I'm also going to be speaking with my mom later, because Vitani has managed to stumble upon some things that even I didn't know of..."

**Vitani's PoV**

I could feel Edward trying to poke around in my mind, and made a point to give him a big grin and giggle as I forced him out. I didn't appreciate people trying to pry, especially when it came to private things like what he was trying to get into. If he wanted to know something, all he had to do was ask! I would tell him pretty much anything, well, except the things Mommy told me I can't talk about with anyone other than her.

I wished I could tell Ko what was going on, but Mommy said he wasn't ready to know yet. She knew all about what he had done to himself, how he built up a mental wall, well, kinda, to protect himself from people trying to hurt him, and that same wall was what was keeping him from being who he was! It was really sad, but Mommy said that he had to work it out for himself, which is why she liked to not acknowledge it. She thinks that if we treat him just like we would if he were still happy, then he might become happy again.

Of course, I already knew what was going on, but that's only cause I'm really sneaky and found all of Mommy's special books. I had told them that the book about our family was weird with symbols and pictures, but when I looked at them, I could read them! It was really neat! When I asked Mommy, she said it was because I was really special, that being her daughter made me super special. She said that Kovu was special too, but that Nuka wasn't. Well, he waaaaaaaas, but not special like us, because his eyes were blue instead of black and yellow.

"What are you drawing, Vitani?" was a really nice lady. She smiled a lot and talked with me about all sorts of stuff, since Ko had been in Mr. Carlisle's office for a while now. She even smelled nice, well, if you got past the normal vampire smell. Did you know that a person's personality affects their smell? It does! So even though they're vampys, which made them smell really weird, their good personalities made up for it, so it wasn't that bad.

"I'm drawin' something like what I saw in one of my Mommy's special books." I held up my book so that she, and Edward, could see as he was standing next to her. The picture was of a wolf, or something kind of like a wolf. It had a muzzle and fur and ears and a tail and claws! But it stood on two legs and looked kinda like it was a human too. "It's a werewolf!" Well, one kind of werewolf, but they didn't need to know that I knew that.

"That's very good, Vitani. You're quite the artist."

"Thank yoo! I wanna be able to draw like Kovu one day, so I gotta practice a bunch." I nodded, but then flipped to a new page in my book, "Soooo, where's the rest of your family?" Edward gave me a funny look, probably wondering how I knew, and I smiled, pointing to my nose, "I can smell really good, and there are other scents here that don't belong to you two or Mr. Carlisle."

"They're upstairs, in their respective rooms."

"How come they aren't down here with us?" He shrugged, either not sure of the reason or not wanting to tell me. I pouted, but left it alone. I wasn't in the mood to try and argue with him, mostly cause I had the feeling he would wind up being almost as stubborn as me. "How long is Kovu gonna be in the office with Mr Carlisle?"

"I' not sure. He had a lot to talk with your brother about, so I can imagine it may take a couple hours, depending on how quickly Kovu opens up."

I couldn't help but groan, throwing my hands up in the air, "We're gonna be here forevers!" I scooted back, pressing my back to the cushions, arms crossed over my chest. Ko owed me a trip to La Push for this!

"Why don't we have our own little talk, then?" I tilted me head -a habit I picked up from being around Ko- and blinked, confused, at Esme. "We can ask each other questions and get to know each other a little better."

"Oooh. Okay, but on one condition!" I pointed to Edward, frowning, "Stop tryin' to poke around in my head. If you wanna know somethin' then ask me. Snooping in people's brains is rude!"

"My apologies. Sometimes, I just can't help it."

"Oh, that's okay then. I'm like that too. I'll go outside sometimes by myself and I'll smell something really really good, and wind up wandering off without realizing it and then when I come back to my senses I'm in the middle of the forest or somewhere in town. It's scary sometimes, but I can always find my way home." I nodded, smiling. "Anyway, is it okay if I ask you guys' a question first?"

"Of course."

"Well, it's two actually." I hopped up and walked to Edward, "Lean down please." He did as I asked, though I could see he was confused, "Open your mouth please." Hesitant, but catching on to what I was doing, he obliged. All perfectly normal people teeth, just like I had thought. "So you have normal teeth?"

"Yes, we do. All vampires do. It's due to our strength and the 'indestructibility' of our bones, teeth included, that allows us to bite into our prey and feed."

I nodded, tapping my chin, "Well, you're not really right in assuming that all vampires are like that, but that's really neat." Walking back to to sofa, I sat back down, kicking my feet gently, "And you don't drink human blood?" Both shook their head. "How come?"

"We do not wish to be viewed as monsters. We live in peace with the humans and it is a life we have always enjoyed. We are able to live perfectly fine off of the animals that we hunt. Edward, for example, has a taste for mountain lions while I prefer deer."

Fair enough, fair enough. "Good enough for me!"

"So, I am curious. You seem to know a lot about our kind, and other creatures as well. Does Kovu know about any of it?"

"Oh, no, not as far as I know. He only knows what he's figured out on his own so far. Like I said, Mommy doesn't want me to tell him anything cause he needs to rediscover himself first." I nodded again, opening my mouth to let out a small yawn, "I hope he does soon though... I'd like to have my big brother be like how Mommy said he used to be. I want him to be happy."

"I understand." Esme got up and came over, sitting next to me, "You really love your brother, don't you?"

"Of course! He's the best! Way more awesome than our other brother Nuka. Nuka's a big meanie because he thinks he's supposed to be the big boss but he's not. Ko has always been there for me and takes care of me. If I have a nightmare then he lets me crawl into his bed and he'll hold me until I can go back to sleep. He always makes sure I have a lunch packed for school and checks my homework. Even on days when he goes off by himself until nighttime, he'll always come back and ask me how my day was, and tuck me in when it's bed time... he's the best big brother ever, even though most people don't like him..."

"We like him, and you too. You both seem like very nice kids and your mother must be very proud of you." I nodded happily, smiling, "I have one more question, if that's alright." I nodded. "Do you know what you are?"

**Kovu's PoV**

"I'm sure everything will work out just fine, Kovu. Thank you for agreeing to come speak with me today. If you'd please follow me, I'd like to do a quick physical examination in order to make sure you are in fact, healing properly."

With a shrug, and a small smile on my face, I stood and followed behind Carlisle, thumbs in my jean pockets. The talk had went pretty well, despite what I had originally been anticipating. I no longer planned to confront my mom, no, because she already knew that I planned to, very likely thanks to Edward. I would simply go on a little hunt of my own, and find the books that Vitani had mentioned. I'd just have to wait until the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Please stand in front of the examination table and remove your jacket and shirt." Simple enough, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that he knew about, well, pretty much everything, it didn't make me any more comfortable when it came to letting him see. "I am a doctor and have been for quite some time. I do not judge and as I said before, it's a simple examination, nothing more."

Inwardly groaning, I slowly, did as he asked. Jacket first, I unzipped it and slipped it off, setting it on said examination table, followed by my teeshirt, then long sleeved undershirt, and finally, my wife beater. Yes, I layered, a lot, and on colder days, I'd even have another one, two, or sometimes three, shirts on, as well as up to three pairs of socks. I really, really, didn't like the cold. As each layer was removed, I felt myself getting colder and colder, and wound up wrapping my arms around myself in a poor effort to stay warm.

"It won't take very long, I promise, so please bear with me. And I apologize now because my touch will be very, very cold." I bit down on my inner cheek as his hands touched my stomach, visibly shuddering. He wasn't lying, that's for sure. "Tell me if you feel any pain or discomfort." He proceeded to apply light pressure to various areas of my abdomen, and while it was a tad strange, none of it hurt or felt uncomfortable or anything of the sort. "Anything?" I shook my head, and he moved up, pressing on my ribs. Still nothing. I suppose that was a good sign th-

My cheeks began to fucking **glow** red as something I could only describe as a giggle escaped me, causing me to cease all movement, save for my hands flying up to cover my face as I grumbled.

Carlisle laughed a bit himself, and simply continued with what he was doing, being sure to avoid the particular area that he had prodded at that caused such a response.

"It seems you're all good to go as far as your previous injuries. How long did it take for it to completely heal?"

"About... three days..." Still utterly embarrassed, I refused to look at him, willing for my blush to fade. "It was still tender then, but I could move around and go about my day as normal without any problems." He nodded and held out his hand, seemingly finished with his prodding of my torso. I gave him my left hand, the one I used to hit Edward and he gave it a squeeze in a few different places. Surprisingly, no pain. "Guess I'm just a fast healer these days. Even my cuts and scratches heal up almost overnight now..."

He nodded, "I guess you're good to go then. You can put your shirts back on now." Oh thank goodness. I didn't know how much longer I could deal with the temperature without beginning to shake. As soon as he stepped away from me, I began slipping them back on, and I have to say, I can't remember the last time I got dressed so fast, but it felt so nice to be back in them, and though it would take a few minutes for me to warm back up, I would be alright.

"I'll bet Vitani is wondering what's taking us so long, so let's head back."

When we made our way back to the living area, I noticed first that Edward had disappeared, and secondly, that Vitani was asleep, curled up on the sofa, her head in Esme's lap. Esme was humming softly and petting her hair and I couldn't help but smile, just a little, at the scene, making my way over and sitting across from her. "Edward will be back in a few moments. He needed to speak with Alice abo-"

"Actually I just finished with my talk. Are you ready to go, Kovu? I know I said the others wanted to talk with you as well, but I think that would be better saved for another day, seeing as Vitani seems to have worn herself out." Not so much wearing herself out as getting bored waiting for me. It takes a hell of a lot for her to burn out her energy, so I doubt she could have done it in the time... wait, how long was I even back there. "About two and a half hours." Oh, well, no wonder she fell asleep. "Come on, I'll take you both home. It's starting to get a bit late anyway, and I'd like to go see Bella before visiting hours end."

Nodding, I walked over to where Vitani lay, and gave Esme a smile. I slung her backpack, after making sure it was zipped closed, over my shoulder and leaned down, scooping the, surprisingly light, eight year old into my arms. She didn't wake, just mumbled, letting out a yawn.

"She isn't too heavy for you?"

I looked at Edward, then shook my head, "I'm so used to carrying her that she doesn't weigh much to me. By the way," I started as we made it outside, the chill in the air causing me to shiver, "How long do you suppose she'll be in the hospital?"

"Carlisle said she should be released by Wednesday, but she'll be on crutches for at least a month, if not two." I nodded. "Since Vitani's out, and we have the time, how about you tell me exactly what happened on the way to my house."

He didn't argue with me or tell me no, so as I placed Vitani in the back seat, laying her backpack down underneath her head as a pillow, I looked to him, waiting patiently.

As we left their driveway, he began, and what he told me further pushed the reason, or one of the reasons, why Carlisle wanted me to stop what I had been doing.


	10. Break

**Break**

"How's life on crutches, Bella?" She gave me a look, something composed of a sneer and a smile, and I shrugged, "Just asking." She sat down next to Edward at the table, across from me and Angela, setting her crutches to the side.

"It sucks." Well, obviously.

I shook my head, shrugging. "At least you don't have to participate in Gym." At that, she gave a smile, laughing lightly. "Besides, they aren't that hard to get used to. Sometimes it just takes a little bit longer for people who've never messed with them, especially if you're clumsy." That got everyone's attention, and the question, though silent, was hanging in the air. "I'll leave it at I've had to deal with more than one broken bone in my life." I popped a grape into my mouth -first day eating food at school, yay for me- , returning my attention to my sketchbook.

I would have to start painting soon, on an actual canvas, so I could finish my art project in time, but I still had a few days, so it wasn't too big of a deal. I'd probably head over to Jacob's and paint while he worked on his bike that way I'd have some form of company that didn't want to paint with me.

"Oh, Kovu, did you do our biology homework." I lifted my head towards Bella, and blinked.

"We... had biology homework?" They laughed, but I was dead serious. I didn't remember any biology homework! "No, seriously, we had homework?"

"Yeah, we were supposed to write up a 500 word paragraph on the stuff in chapter 27 of the text book." Oh, well, sucks for me then. I hadn't even read the chapter. One bad homework grade wasn't going to kill me though. I was passing the class and that what mattered. "We have one due next Friday too on chapter 28."

"I should probably start writing these things down."

"That'd be a good idea. You wouldn't want to fail because you forgot to do homework. I mean, it's like the easiest part of the class." Jessica, ah, how I did not miss your voice. She had made it a point to pretty much ignore me the entire time Bella was gone, leading me to the conclusion that she only **tolerated me** because I was friends with Bella. Angela and I would hang out at lunch, and of course Eric was there, all over her, and even Mike would come talk with us, bringing along a very unhappy Jessica usually, who normally wouldn't say anything to me and just spend the entire lunch hour stuck to Mike's side, commenting when one of the others said something.

No idea what I did to her, but considering my previous record with people, I didn't think too much on it. No point in dwelling on unimportant details that will have no real effect on my life~

"Anyway, we've been working on stuff for prom and..."

I decided that point would be a good one to zone out of the conversation as I had zero interest in anything to even remotely do with prom. I didn't plan on going and unless someone tied me up and literally, forced me to, I was going to keep to that.

Prom, to me, was stupid anyway. You go, hang out with people and dance while being all prettied up. How does that even sound fun? But, of course, Jessica and Angela were looking forward to it, and I'd suspect their boyfriends were as well, if they intended on holding up the supposed "prom tradition" anyway. Bella didn't seem very interested in it either, but Edward would likely wind up taking her anyway. I can only imagine the fun they'll have if she's still using crutches by that time.

Man, why did school have to be so boring. Especially lunch. It was cool to have a break, but with nothing to do but chat or doodle, it didn't exactly go by fast. I just wanted the day to be over with so I could go home, get the rest of my art supplies, and go hang out with Jacob.

Who was, surprisingly, waiting for me, as I noticed when I arrived at his house that afternoon, canvas in one arm and bag of paints and supplies over the opposite shoulder. "Figured you'd come around today." I tilted my head, setting my things down carefully on the floor of the garage, "Well you told me you had that," he motioned to the canvas which was empty save for a light sketch, "to finish and you always come down here when you have something important to work on. So I figured I'd see you either today or tomorrow."

Didn't realize I'd made a pattern out of it, or a habit... well, that was rather neat, and thinking about it, he did have a point, but can you blame me? At home, Vitani would want to stick around me and 'help', or would constantly be asking what this was and what that was and why I was doing this and that, and mom would likely want me to help with dinner or start on some of the housework while she cooked.

Which I normally didn't mind, but I actually had work to do.

"Jacob~! What's goin' on, man?" One of Jacob's friends, uhm... Embry, if I remember correctly -I met him once before- entered the garage, hug grin on his face. "Oh, hey Kovu! How's it goin?"

"Well enough. Nice to see you again, Embry."

As he and Jacob began talking about whatever it is Embry had come over for, I set up my canvas against the wall, sitting on top of a toolbox as I knelt in front of it. I opened my back and pulled out my first three, and main, paints, red, orange, and yellow, as well as a bottle of water, plastic cup, and my selection of brushes.

The final sketch I had chosen to base my painting off of wasn't something spectacular or anything like that. It was actually fairly simple, and seeing as I didn't have anything happen, other than getting my ass kicked and learning about the vampire deal, neither of which I thought would have made good subjects for the project, I decided to paint La Push beach. An evening based image, it would be when the sun is almost gone, the sky a mixture of reds and blues and purples, dark, thundering clouds decorating the sky, a bright, full moon seen through them. The waves would be high, violent almost in reaction to the weather and moon phase. On the beach would be a figure, myself, though it wouldn't be detailed as such, standing and staring at the sky set before me.

It was, if I did it right, going to be absolutely bursting with the 'emotion' and 'feelings' that the teacher wanted. It was a representation of my life since moving to Forks, and what had already happened, so, yeah.

Not a bad idea if I do say so myself and so long as I actually made it a point to work on it, and not get too distracted, then I would be able to have it completed by Monday, which was the due date. As I began, I made a mental note to myself to start painting at least a week ahead of time if she gave us another project like this to work on. I mean, I'd be able to get it done, but it would feel... rushed. At least to me.

Perfectionism was a curse but one that only got at me when I had to paint... or draw. For a grade.

I think it was just a part of me that wanted to be better than everyone else. Something to prove that I was worth more than what people thought. Or, something to that effect anyway. I never did actually figure that part out, but that's how it always was so I figured there was no point.

"Dude, that's awesome." Being snapped out of my thoughts caused me to jump and flecks of red paint flew, landing right on Embry's face, which was unpleasantly close to me. "Hey!"

Jacob thought it was hilarious, of course, while I just shook my head, "You asked for it. You never interrupt someone that deep in thought without being prepared for the consequences. You should consider yourself lucky. I did it once and wound up with the paint water all over me."

Oh, yeah, he did. I had forgotten about that. "What can I say? I get really into my work." Embry wiped the paint off of his cheek with his fingers and proceeded to clean them off on **my** face, leaving red streaks of paint on both. From what I could see of my reflection in the side mirror of the rabbit, it looked like war paint. "Nice, Embry." So now I'd be stuck with paint on my face until I went home and showered, because I was not about to wipe it off on my jacket, though I did momentarily consider the idea...

"Just returning the favor!" He began laughing too, and I rolled my eyes at him, turning back to my work. "What are you painting that for anyway? And what is it?"

"Class project. It's due on Monday. As for what it is, you'll find out once it's done." Which... would be Sunday night, hopefully. While I didn't intend on getting distracted, little details would bug the hell out of me until the last minute when I had no choice but to leave it alone to completely dry. "And before you complain that it isn't fair, he" I pointed to Jacob with the paintbrush, "doesn't know either."

He pouted, or something, I couldn't really tell, "Fine then. I'll just sit here and watch you with so much intensity that you'll feel so awkward that you'll tell me just to get rid of me." He sat down next to me, pressed into my right side and sure enough, stared hard at me, not my painting, me. With another roll of my eyes, I dripped my brush in the red paint once more, and went back to work.

"Embry, you do realize that isn't going to work, right?"

"Oh, why not?"

Jacob just laughed and I heard him fiddling with his tools again, getting back to his own work. I could still feel Embry staring at me as I did my thing, but I happily ignored him, even going so far as to give a smirk and start humming, just to show I didn't care. Seriously, I had a little sister. As if I wasn't used to this.

"You should paint me." My eyes shifted and I looked at Embry, "I want to see if you can capture my hotness."

"Like you need anything to add to that ego of yours. C'mon, Em, leave him alone. He's working."

"So are you!"

"Well go hang out with Quil then."

"But he was doing homework!"

Taking in a deep breath, I shook my head, "Embry." He looked back at me, "Shut up." And so he slouched, pouting, but he did remain quiet, just sitting there. I watched him from the corner of my eye, just to see what he'd do. He'd look around, sigh, look around more, mess with something laying on the floor. As he perked up though, I grew suspicious. What was he-

Okay, so I could squeak, did not know that.

Embry had picked me up, and I was now hovering like two feet in the air, "Cross your legs." Confused, but hoping it would make him put me down, I complied, and repositioned my legs. As soon as I did, he set me back on the floor, plopped down next to me, and put his head in my lap. "While you guys are being boring, I'm gonna catch up on some beauty sleep."

"Yeah, yeah. Beauty sleep. We'll see you sometime next year then."

He made a face back at Jacob and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. I continued on, determined to at least finish the sky portion of my painting before heading home, but I was paying attention to him. It only took about five minutes until he was out like a light. Curious, I prodded his cheek with the end of my brush, and guess what? He didn't move or make a sound or anything.

I looked up to see Jacob grinning at me. "So, should I assume he's a heavy sleeper?"

"Oh yeah."

I suppose I could take a small break from my project. After all, it isn't often a situation like this presents itself so... easily.

Now, the big questions, what type of artwork should we decorate the poor, sleepy Quileute boy with and how much of him should we cover.


	11. Swim

**Swim**

I know I never mentioned it before, and as far as I know, no one actually knows this, but, I can't actually swim. Shit, I can't even float. I was never able to learn, and believe me, we tried. I even took swimming classes, but for some reason it just never took, and I wound up almost drowning... a lot. One time was a great deal worse than the rest... and I had to be rushed to the hospital because I'd swallowed too much water and they feared it had made it's way into my lungs.

Even still though, I loved the water. I loved to just sit at where it reached knee height, that way the water would flow up to my chest when I sat down. It was... calming, relaxing.

Which is why I decided to spend my Saturday at the beach. I wasn't playing in the water of course -I was working on my project-, but Vitani was having a blast, and so far, hadn't encountered any more of her 'sworn enemy' -the crab-. Jacob was supposed to be joining us at some point, Embry and Quil too. They even said they might just bring everyone along, which I guessed meant their families, and make a day of it.

I also had to promise to take a break from my work, which in his case, meant many breaks, so I could hang out and get to know the others, seeing as I'd only been introduced to Embry and Quil so far. I don't know why they felt the need to introduce me to their family, but to be honest... I was kind of looking forward to it.

I mean, Jacob, Embry, and Quil were immediately accepting of us -Vitani and I-, and the only comment we ever got about our eyes were that they looked like a wolves eyes, which, well, was kind of true. Of course I was worried that the others wouldn't be quite as... nice, and c'mon, I had full rights to be paranoid about it, considering!

Yeah, yeah, I know people in Forks were apparently completely different than practically everywhere else, but even after almost a month, it was still just really weird to me. I didn't understand why things were working out how they were, and I wouldn't bet that it was something as simple as 'good luck'.

A glance up from my canvas showed me Vitani back on shore, working on a sand castle, I think. It looked like the start of a castle, at least.

My painting though, was actually looking pretty good, and was about a fourth of the way done, overall. The sky was finished and I'd started on the sand, the base of the beach. Fit pretty well if you ask me; painting a beach while hanging out on a beach? What better way to keep motivated.

"Guess who?" The sudden hands covering my eyes scared the hell out of me, and I almost dropped my paintbrush. Though, the hands touching my face did not happen to match the voice asking the question. Ah, attention to detail.

"Hi Embry. Jacob, hands off the face, please?"

"How'd you know!"

"You have lady-hands, Embry." I didn't have to look to know the expression that would be on his face, "And before you ask about Jacob, he works with tools all the time, soooo, yeah, self explanitory, that one."

Laughing, Jacob took back his hands and plopped down next to me, while Embry huffed and walked off, being waved over by Vitani who had a... crab, of course, in each hand. I watched as she handed him one, pointing to it, then to the water, and following her example, Embry threw the crab as far as he could. It landed way past where Vitani's did, and she jumped up and down happily before high-fiving him.

"Man, you pick on him almost more than we do."

"Nice of you to join us, Quil. And yeah, I kinda do, but his reactions are amusing, and it's fun to make cute fella's blush." Now, this was coming from a simple, friend standpoint, and from Vitani's input. I personally did not like Embry in that way, but from one person to another, I could acknowledge that he was good looking, though I think he'd look better with short hair. "And no, I'm not into him, because I know you're both thinking it. I just tend to pick up Vitani's ah... particular way of describing people."

"Well is there anyone you do like?" I looked up at him, my face blank, eyes narrowed. He just grinned, shrugging.

"Are you seriously trying to get me to talk girls with you, Quil?"

"Well, yeah! Why not!"

Goodness. I personally wasn't one to talk about girls... or boys, or well, anyone in that manner. Relationships weren't exactly in my list of priorities and whatnot.

I shook my head at him, "Why don't you go play with Vita and Embry? I know if you stay here, I won't get any work done." Which was true, as he either wouldn't shut up or he'd mess with my paints, or even steal my canvas and run off, which he had done with my sketchbook many a time before. I did not want to risk something happening to my work, especially not now that I was actually making good progress on it.

"Why does Jake get to stay then?" He pouted, or attempted to, but it didn't phase me at all. Quil wasn't someone who could easily pull off the puppy dog eyes, and it took a professional to actually get me to fall for them.

"Because he, unlike you dear Quil, knows how to behave. Now, shoo." I waved him off, and listening like the good boy he is, he trudged along and pounced Embry into the water. Vitani was laughing loudly at them, to the point where she fell back on her butt in the sand, at which point they began a game of chase. At least I knew they'd all be occupied for a little while.

"Y'know, I never thought to ask before since it seemed appropriate, but it's pretty warm today... so why are you so bundled up?"

No one ever asked me that, to be honest. I dressed for warmth every day, no matter what the temperature had seemed to be. It was somewhat of a habit, but I just couldn't adjust to anything under almost 90 degrees, and even then, I could wind up getting cold, or cool, at least, if a breeze blew by. I think my internal thermometer is broken... "I uhm... I don't produce enough body heat to keep myself warm... Or well, warm enough. I'm cold almost all the time, even in summer. It's weird." It was, I wouldn't lie about that.

So, one could guess, obviously, that I was a little jealous of my sister, who ran about in shorts and tank tops all the time, or even of the Quileute boys who were at the moment, and this was all three, in nothing but a pair of shorts. I must have looked absolutely ridiculous in my jeans and jacket. But I couldn't help it.

"That really blows. Is there anything that helps?"

Well, not that we had found so far. The only thing that ever really made it go away was... "Er... one thing... but it isn't easily accessible, at least to me, so yeah." Because telling someone the only way for you to retain heat was if you were getting it from another person was a little more than your typical embarrassing confession. "So I just deal with it. It's not so bad now. I mean, compared to when I was little."

With a shrug, I focused my attention back onto my painting, tapping my chin with the brush handle. I wasn't really in the mood to work on it now. Sigh. Perhaps it was because I ruined my working mood by thinking about my heat issue. I did sort of want to get in the water, just stick my feet in a little. Maybe sit in the water...

"What if you stuck close to me or something? I mean, we're all pretty hot," I rolled my eyes at his grin, "so being around me -er- us, might help you."

I swear to all that I am, if he can read minds too, I just quit because that just isn't fair. "I'm not.. I mean.." I didn't have a valid argument to be honest.

Taking that as a "yes", he stood, setting my supplies beside me on the blanket. "Well, c'mon." I just looked up at him, like... seriously? "And yes, I'm serious." Might as well...

Letting out a sigh, I stood up, sliding off my jacket, "Look, I'll do this but I'm not going past where the water touches my stomach. And if you try and make me," I stared him down, seriousness and an obvious threat shining in my eyes, "it won't end well, and Vitani will likely have your head."

"Alright, I promise I won't make you go further, now c'mon. Strip!" I was, I was, just... slowly, being sure to fold up my clothes as I removed them, setting them in a neat little pile. Jacket first, then my two shirts. I really didn't like the idea of being almost nude in front of them. I didn't like being nude in front of anyone, really. It made me feel vulnerable, which in turn, made me act shy and I'd likely end up blushing, a lot. None of that was appealing to me! "Pants too." Oh, I swear you're lucky I wore swim shorts under my pants. I knew something would wind up happening and I wasn't going to let my clothes get ruined because of it.

"There we go." Of course, my only swim shorts, as I didn't normally go swimming, were ones that Vitani picked out for me when she and mom had went shopping a few days after we arrived. She wanted me to wear something that was... I don't even remember what she had said, but they were freaking pink. Pink and red, anyway, as if I needed anything else to take away the very few masculinity points I had. "She picked them out, right?" He nodded his head over in Vitani's direction and I nodded a bit, my arms instinctively going around my waist.

It was a self-defense method, and an impulse. I usually didn't even realize I was doing it unless someone pointed it out to me, but right now, standing in nothing but a pair of shorts, I knew I was doing it. I felt... nervous, scared almost. I'd never been in so little clothing in front of anyone, and my scars weren't even the worst that one could see if they looked close enough... ugh.

I really wanted to just go home.

"Well... let's go." As my bare feet made contact with the sand, I felt warmth radiating off it it, the sun having been beating down on it all day. It was nice, and I couldn't help but smile a little at the feeling.

"You know, you should smile more often." And so the smile disappears, "It suits you a lot better than that horribly monotonous look you always seem to have." Well, I can honestly say I haven't been told that before... people typically just accepted how I was and didn't care.

Forks really is a strange place.

"Yay! Ko's gonna swim with us!"

"Actually, Vita, I-" I didn't have the chance to object as she grabbed my hand and roughly pulled me forward. I stumbled, but stood my ground after I recovered, "Vitani." She stopped tugging and looked back at me.

I didn't say anything, just looked at her, and slowly, I saw her realizing what I meant. "O-Oh.. Ko, I'm sorry! I forgot..."

"It's fine, just... y'know."

She nodded and released my hand, running off into the water, jumping out as far as she could and landing with a big splash. "Quil! Embry! C'mon! Or are you nothing but a couple of big ol' chickens!"

"Who're you callin' a chicken, squirt!" Quil jumped in after her, making an even bigger splash.

"You gonna be alright, Kovu? You look kinda... pale. Well, paler than normal."

"Yeah.. I'll be fine, Jake." I had to be. There was no way I was going to let something like this, something so stupid and insignificant, get at me now. I couldn't risk it, not with Vitani here.

Since when did it even get at me this bad. I never felt like this before, no matter where we were. I'd been coming to the beach for weeks! I'd even sat in the water. I was perfectly fine then.

_Something is going to happen._

That, actually, made sense. Perhaps it was because something would happen...

I was pulled from my thoughts by Jacob tugging on my arm, smiling as he attempted to urge me to get in the water. Not wanting to be the one ruining the fun, I followed along, though only went to the point where it touched my waist. The water wasn't cold, thank goodness, but it was still cool and I had to force myself to not shiver at the feeling.

Vitani was on her back, drifting around, letting the small waves push and pull her about, giggling all the while. She loved the ocean for that reason, for the waves. Pools and such were fine, but without waves, it wasn't nearly as fun for her. I always found it amusing, heck, I found most of what she did and thought amusing. She was a one of a kind kid, that's for sure.

"Woah, what happened to you?" Knowing that question was directed at me, I tensed up, taking in a sharp breath. "Did someone shove you in a blender or something?" God damnit, why did you have to notice. Why did you have to point it out? Why the hell did you have to announce to the fucking world that -

"Leave him alone, Embry. Whatever may have happened to him isn't any of your business and it's quite clear that you're making him uncomfortable." I felt myself relax a little at Jacob's attempt to shut him up. It really wasn't anyone's business what had or hadn't happened to me, or where any of the marks came from.

"I'm just curious. I mean, I've never see-"

"Stop." I felt Jacob tense up almost as much as I had and his eyes narrowed, the look on his face clearly telling Embry to shut up.

Grumbling, Embry left it alone and I could have hugged Jacob for that.

"Thanks.." It came out as a mumble, but that was the best I could manage. He patted my shoulder and I almost tensed up again, a warmth sparking through me. For the brief moment where his hand made contact with my skin, the coolness of the water had no effect on me, and as that moment faded, a hard shiver ran through me. Jacob looked down at me, having noticed, but I shook it off and walked a few feet closer to the beach, plopping down in the water, my butt resting in the sand as the waves lightly pushed at my chest.

"Hey, look!" Following Vitani's gaze -she seemed to be noticing everything lately- I saw a small group of people walking along the beach towards us. Assuming it was the rest of, or part of at least, the group mentioned before, I just sighed and made no effort to greet them.

I was sure all that would be taken care of once they arrived anyway.


End file.
